CANAMEX Corridor

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The CANAMEX corridor is a corridor linking Canada to Mexico through the United States. The corridor was established under the North American Free Trade Agreement.^[1] Currently the corridor is defined by a series of highways. However the corridor is also proposed for use by railroads, pipelines and fiber optic telecommunications infrastructure.^[1]

1 States, Provinces part of the CANAMEX Corridor
2 Highway
3 Railroad
4 Legislative Issues
5 References
6 External links

[edit] States, Provinces part of the CANAMEX Corridor

Canada

Alberta- Highway 2, Highway 3, Highway 4, Highway 43

United States

Montana - Interstate 15
Idaho - Interstate 15
Utah - Interstate 15
Nevada - Interstate 15, Interstate 515, U.S. Route 93
Arizona - U.S. Route 93, Interstate 10, Interstate 19. To make the highway drivable as a continuous route also requires the inclusion of Interstate 15 and U.S. Route 60, though they are not officially included.

Mexico

Sonora- Mexico Federal Highway 15

[edit] Highway

The United States portion of the highway was established as a High Priority Corridor. The treaty establishes that the CANAMEX highway will be upgraded to at least 4 lanes along its entire length. Currently 84% of the highway in the United States is compliant, 86% of the highway in Mexico is compliant.^[2] The Canada portion was expected to be complete in 2007.

Current infrastructure improvements to upgrade the non-compliant portions include the Hoover Dam Bypass along U.S. Route 93, improvements to I-15 near Great Falls and new freeway connections in Phoenix.^[3]

[edit] Railroad

NAFTA also established the CANAMEX corridor for rail usage. The Union Pacific Railroad already owns and operates rail lines paralleling Interstate 15 between Las Vegas, Nevada and Canada as well as a rail line between Phoenix, Arizona and Mexico, loosely following the corridor. However there is no existing railroad directly connecting Las Vegas and Phoenix.

[edit] Legislative Issues

There are two discrepancies in the US definition of the CANAMEX corridor that have not yet been resolved. The first is a technicality, which states the Nevada portion of the CANAMEX corridor shall follow Interstate 15 to Utah.^[4] However, I-15 does not pass directly from Nevada to Utah. Interstate 15 in Arizona was omitted; but necessary for continuity. The rail line to be used by CANAMEX runs to the northwest of I-15. It does directly enter Utah from Nevada without entering Arizona. The connection is made between Beryl, Utah and Pioche, Nevada.

The second issue is a gap near Phoenix, Arizona. The official designation in Arizona is Interstate 10 to U.S. Route 93 at Phoenix. However, US 93 does not enter Phoenix or connect with I-10. US 93 currently terminates at Wickenburg, Arizona northwest of Phoenix. Currently to make this connection requires driving U.S. Route 60.

This, along with Hoover Dam, were identified as bottlenecks in the corridor. Studies immediately commenced to propose workarounds. The Hoover Dam Bypass had already been proposed, and is now under construction. Studies to resolve the Phoenix bottleneck include 2 proposals for freeway connections between Wickenburg and Phoenix. One involves upgrades and extensions of Arizona State Route 303, the other is a Wickenburg bypass that would connect to Arizona State Route 74.