[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 26, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S577-S579]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BINGAMAN (for himself, Mr. Roberts, and Mr. Inhofe):
  S. 169. A bill to amend the Intermodal Surface Transportation 
Efficiency Act of 1991 to identify a route that passes through the 
States of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas as a high priority 
corridor on the National Highway System; to the Committee on 
Environment and Public Works.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation 
that will enhance the future economic vitality of communities in Otero, 
Lincoln, Torrance, Guadalupe, and Quay Counties.

[[Page S579]]

The purpose of this legislation is to focus attention on the need to 
upgrade U.S. Highway 54 to four lanes. I believe improving the 
transportation infrastructure will help attract good jobs to South, 
Central, and Eastern New Mexico.
  I am honored to have my good friend and colleague, Senator Roberts, 
as the lead cosponsor of the bill. I am also pleased to have Senators 
Inhofe as an original cosponsor. In addition, Representatives Udall 
(NM), Lucas, and Pearce are introducing this bill today on the House 
side.
  Our bill designates U.S. Highway 54 from the border with Mexico at 
the Bridge of the Americas in El Paso, TX, through New Mexico, and 
Oklahoma to Wichita, KS, as the Southwest Passage Initiative for 
Regional and Interstate Transportation, or SPIRIT, corridor. Congress 
has already included Highway 54 as part of the National Highway System. 
This bill adds the SPIRIT Corridor to Congress's list of High Priority 
Corridors on the National Highway System.
  About half of the 700-mile-long SPIRIT corridor is in New Mexico and 
another 200 miles of it are in Kansas. Our goal in asking Congress to 
designate SPIRIT as a High Priority Corridor on the National Highway 
System is to help focus attention on the need for a complete four-lane 
upgrade of the route from El Paso to Wichita. When completed, the route 
will link rural areas in the four States to major market centers.
  I continue to believe strongly in the importance of highway 
infrastructure for economic development in my state. Even in this age 
of the new economy and high-speed digital communications, roads 
continue to link our communities together and to carry the commercial 
goods and products our citizens need. Safe and efficient highways are 
especially important to citizens in the rural parts of New Mexico.
  It is well known that regions with four-lane highways more readily 
attract out-of-state visitors and new jobs. Truck drivers and the 
traveling public prefer the safety of a four-lane divided highway.
  In New Mexico, U.S. 54 is a fairly level route, bypassing New 
Mexico's major mountain ranges. The route also traverses some of New 
Mexico's most dramatic scenery, including three of the state's popular 
Scenic Byways. One is the Mesalands Scenic Byway in Guadalupe, San 
Miguel and Quay Counties, incorporating the beautiful tablelands known 
as El Llano Estacado. Another is the State's newest byway, La Frontera 
de Llano, which follows highway 39 from Logan to Abbott in Harding 
County, including the spectacular Canadian River Canyon and the Kiowa 
National Grasslands. The third byway is the historic Route 66, which 
crosses Highway 54 from Santa Rosa to Tucumcari.
  The SPIRIT corridor passes through Alamogordo, home of the New Mexico 
Museum of Space History and gateway to the stunning White Sands 
National Monument.
  Highway 54 is also important to our Nation from the perspective of 
national security. The route directly serves Fort Bliss, the White 
Sands Missile Range, and Holloman Air Force Base. It also passes 
through the Nation's breadbasket as well as some of the Nation's most 
important oil and gas fields.
  The route of the SPIRIT corridor starts at Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, 
home of one the largest concentrations of manufacturing in the border 
region. As a result of increased trade under NAFTA, commercial border 
traffic is now much higher at the border crossings in El Paso, Texas, 
and Santa Teresa, New Mexico. In New Mexico, truck traffic from the 
border has risen to over 1000 per day and is expected to triple in the 
next twenty years.
  The SPIRIT corridor is perfectly situated to serve international 
trade and promote economic development along its entire route. The 
route provides direct connections to four major Interstate Highways: I-
10, 1-35, I-40, and 1-70. SPIRIT is also the shortest route between 
Chicago and El Paso shaving 137 miles off the major alternative.
  Though much of U.S. 54 is currently only two lanes, traffic has been 
rising dramatically along the entire route since NAFTA was implemented. 
In New Mexico, total daily traffic levels are nearing 10,000 and are 
projected to rise to 30,000, with trucks making up 35 percent of the 
total. In Oklahoma, traffic levels are up to 6,500 per day--40 percent 
of which are commercial trucks. These traffic statistics clearly 
reflect the SPIRIT corridor's attraction to commercial and passenger 
drivers.
  New Mexicans recognize the importance of efficient roads to economic 
development and safety. I have long supported my State's efforts to 
complete the four-lane upgrade of U.S. 54. The State Department of 
Transportation rates the project a high priority for New Mexico. The 
four-lane upgrade of the first 56-mile segment from the Texas border to 
Alamogordo was completed in 2002. Two more sections in New Mexico 
remain to be upgraded: 163 miles from Tularosa, north through 
Carrizozo, Corona, and Vaughn, to Santa Rosa and 50 miles from 
Tucumcari to the Texas border near Nara Visa in Quay County. This 
corridor is currently a two-lane facility with no shoulders, no passing 
zones and various deficient areas. The cost to four-lane these two 
segments is estimated at $420 million.
  I am pleased Governor Richardson has set aside over $130 million as 
part of the New Mexico's GRIP initiative to upgrade key portions of the 
route between Tularosa and Santa Rosa. I am committed to working with 
State to secure the funding required to complete New Mexico's four-lane 
upgrade as soon as possible. I am pleased the other states are also 
moving quickly to four-lane their portion of the route.
  Once the SPIRIT corridor is designated, New Mexico will have four 
high-priority corridors on the National Highway System. The other three 
are the Ports-to-Plains corridor, the Camino Real Corridor, and the 
East West Transamerica Corridor. These four trade corridors, as well as 
our close proximity to the border, strongly underscore the vital role 
New Mexico plays in our Nation's interstate and international 
transportation network.
  The SPIRIT project has broad grassroots support. Most of the cities, 
counties, and chambers of commerce all the way from Wichita to El Paso 
have passed resolutions of support for the four-lane upgrade of U.S. 54 
along the entire corridor.
  I do believe the four-lane upgrade of Highway 54 is vital to the 
continued economic development for all of the communities along the 
SPIRIT corridor in New Mexico. I again thank Senators Roberts and 
Inhofe for cosponsoring the bill, and I hope all senators will join us 
in support of this important legislation. It is my hope that our bill 
can pass quickly this year or be included when the Senate again 
considers the reauthorization of a six-year surface transportation 
bill.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 169

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SOUTHWEST PASSAGE INITIATIVE FOR REGIONAL AND 
                   INTERSTATE TRANSPORTATION.

       Section 1105(c) of the Intermodal Surface Transportation 
     Efficiency Act of 1991 (105 Stat. 2032) is amended by adding 
     at the end the following:
       ``(46) The corridor extending from the point on the border 
     between the United States and Mexico at El Paso, Texas, where 
     United States Route 54 begins, along United States Route 54 
     through the States of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and 
     Kansas, and ending in Wichita, Kansas, to be known as the 
     `Southwest Passage Initiative for Regional and Interstate 
     Transportation Corridor' or `SPIRIT Corridor'.''.
                                 ______