Mid-Continent Knowledge Network Studies International Transportation

Congestion. Crashes. Chaos. Words no transportation planner ever wants to hear.

Transportation professionals in education, research, planning and implementation met via the TEL8 network on how to make the continent's central trade corridor a safe place.

The timing for their second meeting was propitious. Just days before the Sept. 11 attack, almost 50 people met via videoconference to discuss issues dealing with traffic from Canada to Mexico through the middle of North America.

Safe vehicles and safety standards that cross borders are of particular concern to the six-member consortium. Those in the group are the Mountain-Plains Consortium, the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute Transportation Safety Systems Center at Lakewood, Colo., the Colorado Division of Federal Highway Administration, the National Center for Intermodal Transportation at the University of Denver, Southwest University Transportation Center at Texas A&M University and the University of Manitoba Transportation Institute. A Mexican school is expected to be part of the consortium.

Information from the six presentations showed a consistent concern for safety and international trade.

Transportation issues at the Mexico-U.S. border are particularly affected by the North American Free Trade Agreement. Rob Harrison at the University of Texas and Southwest University Transportation Center brought his expertise in this area. Labor issues, competition, shipping costs and supply chains and the magnitude of Mexican truck access all affect both image and fact in cross-border transport. Railroads used safety to freeze congressional legislation on large combination vehicles in the 1990s.

Trucking legislation through NAFTA said in January 2000 that there would be full cross-border access for international shipments. Now it's autumn 2001 and careful re-evaluation of all international shipping and travel becomes essential.

Yet facts remain from the Mid-continent conference. Safety arguments about Mexican trucks are not supported by data even though the public perception is that Mexican trucks aren't as safe as American or Canadian trucks. Fatality and injury rates for all vehicles are indeed higher in Mexico than the U.S. or Canada, but they have lower fatality and injury rates per truck.

Brenda Lantz from the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute Transportation Safety Systems Center continues her work with ensuring the safety of North American motor carrier operations. Communication links for computer programming and databanks to alert regulatory authorities and trucking companies of problems or potential problems shows great promise for safety enhancement.

Others who presented were Paul Dempsey from the National Center for Intermodal Transportation at the University of Denver on Free Trade But Not Free Transport: The Mexican Standoff; Barry Prentice from the University of Manitoba Transportation Institute on Economics of Congestion at a Border Gateway: The Case of Laredo; Bill Stockton from Southwest University Transportation Center at Texas A&M University on Criteria & Design of a Model Border Crossing and Denver Tolliver from UGPTI on Canadian-U.S. Rail Freight Flows Since NAFTA.

Full reports are available by contacting: Doug Benson, (701)231-8388, doug.benson@ndsu.edu

(Photos courtesy of Robert Harrison, Center for Transportation Research, The University of Texas at Austin)