Tim Leeds Havre Daily News tleeds@havredailynews.com
The annual meeting of the Highway 2 Association Tuesday night in Helena highlighted a series of activities that could lead to infrastructure development and increased economic activity in north-central Montana. “We sit right smack dab in the middle of all of this activity,” Highway 2 Association President Bob Sivertsen said last week. "If people just realized what we have, I think they would be pretty excited.” Representatives of the Ports to Plains Corridor advocate group were the featured speakers at the meeting in Helena, which was attended by representatives of Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester and Rep. Denny Rehberg. The Ports to Plains group, originally formed to create a trade corridor from the ports in Texas north to Canada, has picked up on the initiative to upgrade the border port of Wild Horse, north of Havre between Montana and Alberta, to a 24-hour commercial port. The only 24-hour commercial port between the United States and the booming Albertan economy is now the port of Sweetgrass north of Shelby. Ports to Plains has picked up on the initiative, trying to create a straight shot from Texas to Alberta including the busy oil and gas activity near Medicine Hat and the bustling activity at the oil sands near Fort Macleod in northeastern Alberta. The initiative also ties into the effort to widen U.S. Highway 2 to four lanes across Montana, which had a law requiring that with certain Restrictions passed by the state legislature in 2001. That push, which initially met with some defeat when its first project upgrading the highway between Havre and Fort Belknap ended up in an improved two-lane configuration instead of a four-lane has moved forward. A project to widen the highway to four lanes from the North Dakota border to Culbertson has been approved, as part of the effort to upgrade the Teddy Roosevelt Expressway which includes Highway 2 in eastern Montana. State Sen. Ken “Kim” Hansen has started another push on the effort, proposing a bill to amend the original law, proposed by former state Sen. Sam Kitzenberg of Glasgow. Kitzenberg’s bill was amended to require that the upgrade would have to be done with only federal money, requiring no state match, and that it could not jeopardize any other Montana highway project. Hansen’s bill would strip those requirements, allowing the upgrade to Highway 2 to be treated like any other highway project. Hansen said the bill had a good hearing in the state Senate committee where it was placed, including state Department of Transportation Director Jim Lynch testifying in favor of the bill. The committee passed the bill with the amendment that the highway commission may direct the highway department to upgrade the highway, rather than stating the commission must do so. The bill passed its second reading in the Senate Tuesday 29-21, and is scheduled for its third and final reading today. Hansen said he is hopeful his amendment will be approved by the full legislature. “We want to be on the same playing field as any other highway in the state of Montana,” he said. Baucus also has been working on bills that could affect the upgrade of Highway 2. In 2005, Baucus included $10 million in that year’s highway bill to study the impact of widening Highway 2, and has proposed a bill this year that would increase funding for rural areas and ensure funding for highways that are used for hauling freight. “Folks in Montana spend more time behind the windshield than they do in many other parts of the country highways are the lifeline of our state,” Baucus said last week. “I’m committed to ensuring Montana gets its fair share of highway funding and working to keep the ports open as long as possible. “These are important issues,” Baucus added. “This is about creating good-paying jobs and keeping Montana open for business.” Tester has already proposed a bill requiring the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to upgrade Wild Horse to a 24-hour commercial port. The department has extended the summer hours at the port, keeping it open from 8 a. m. to 9 p.m. from March through October rather than the previous May 15 to Sept. 30 summer hours. The port is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. the rest of the year. Tester said he will continue to push for the upgrade at the port. “My Wild Horse legislation is still on the front burner and I look forward to working on it at the local level and seeing it get to the Senate Floor for a vote,” he said, “My bill is about expanding economic opportunities on the Hi-Line and creating new jobs. It's just common sense.” He said he also is interested in the work to upgrade Highway 2 and the comments from the association’s annual meeting. “As always, I'm interested in hearing feedback from the meeting,” he said. “We get the best work done by working together and opening lines of communication. There is no doubt that expansion of Highway 2 will bring opportunity to the Hi-Line. “I'm excited about the work that's already been done to examine four lanes from Culbertson, and I look forward to more ideas to come,” Tester added. Rehberg also said he wants to improve the transportation facilities in the area. “A new administration brings new opportunities,” he said. “Max, Jon and I are going to work side-by-side with President Obama to improve our infrastructure on the Hi-Line, which is critical to getting Montana’s economy moving in the right direction.”
