Limon Office Lubbock Office P.O. Box 9 5401 N MLK Blvd., Unit 395 Limon, CO 80828 Lubbock, TX 79403 P: 303.586.1787 P: 806.775.2338 F: 719.775.9073 Fax: 806.775.3981

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Joe Kiely Statement to Nebraska Highway Commission

June 25, 2010 Gering, Nebraska

I am Joe Kiely, from Limon, CO. I come with two hats today: I come as a representative of a Colorado community that is on the southern end of the Heartland Expressway and as Vice President of Operations for the Ports-to-Plains Alliance. The Heartland Expressway lies at the center of three congressionally designated High Priority Corridors on the National Highway System. A corridor that reaches north to Alberta and Saskatchewan and south to Mexico through North America’s Energy and Agricultural Heartland … It is a Corridor of National Significance. These numbers make it an important corridor for Nebraska: $3.2 billion of Nebraska truck trade is with the State of Texas $1.6 billion of Nebraska truck trade is with the state of Colorado These numbers alone show the value of the highway corridor to the South. $1.7 billion of Nebraska truck trade is with the state of South Dakota This number shows the value of the highway corridor to the South. $8 billion of Nebraska truck trade is north-south along this corridor. Internationally:

Nebraska Exports by Truck along the Alliance Corridor to Mexico are $196 million and has increased 191% since 2004 Nebraska Exports by Truck along the Alliance Corridor to Canada are $253 million and has increased 171% since 2004.

Colorado’s Transportation Commission last month approved the final $19 million in improvements to U.S. 287 south of Limon to the Colorado/Oklahoma border. This completed a plan created in 1997. The Ports-to-Plains Alliance is committed to advocating for improvements of the same kind from Limon north to the Colorado/Nebraska border in Highway 71. The Colorado Long Range Plan already includes the need to upgrade this portion of the Heartland Expressway to four-lane divided highway. Finally, on a national scale, the Ports-to-Plains Alliance is advocating for the transportation reauthorization to address funding for Rural Connectivity and Mobility; Freight Transportation, and Rural Safety. I submit for your record the SAFETEA-LU Reauthorization Recommendations of the Ports-to-Plains Alliance. Please take some time after this meeting a look at that document, especially page seven where map images clearly show why this is a corridor of National Significance; Why it is being called North America’s Energy and Agricultural Corridor. Thank you for the opportunity to address the Commission and the Ports-to-Plains Alliance looks forward to working with the Nebraska Department of Roads over the long term to develop the Nebraska portion of this Corridor of National Significance.