State officials are gearing up a campaign to extend Interstate 17 from Flagstaff, Ariz., into Utah, a link that would provide an unbroken route from Mexico to Canada.
They envision extending the highway around the Grand Canyon and into Utah to connect with Interstate 15.I-17 ends at the southern end of Flagstaff now. Extending it could cost $1 billion and is probably a decade away, officials said, adding that specific routing, who pays and similar details have yet to be determined.
The project would help Arizona benefit from the North America Free Trade Agreement, officials said Wednesday.
"It's more than just the issue of extending I-17 to hook up with I-15 in Utah," said Jose Velasco, Gov. Fife Symington's executive assistant for Arizona-Mexico relations. "We're talking about a trade corridor."
Dorothy Bigg, director of international trade for the state Department of Commerce, predicted such a corridor would add billions of dollars to Arizona's economy.
"The economic-development benefits probably would eclipse the opportunities of exporting to Mexico," she said.
State Rep. Lela Steffey, R-Mesa, who heads the House Transportation Committee, noted that Arizona is the only one of the four states bordering Mexico that isn't crossed by an interstate that runs north to Canada.
And those other states already are getting a good share of our trucking industry now," especially Texas, she said.
State officials figure the I-17 extension probably would follow U.S. 89, cutting through the Navajo Reservation and across some of the scenic areas - meaning the Navajos and environmentalists would be likely to oppose it, they said.
Sen. Ed Phillips, R-Scottsdale, incoming vice chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said federal environmental standards should limit such concerns.
The trade agreement, which would eliminate trade barriers among Canada, the United States and Mexico, has been signed by the leaders of the three countries and is awaiting ratification by those nations' legislatures.