Arizona and Mexico will further their collaboration on developing what many describe as the American job-killing I-11 corridor under an agreement signed last week by Arizona Department of Transportation Director John Halikowski and Raul Murrieta Cummings, undersecretary of infrastructure for Mexico’s Ministry of Communications and Transport.
The memorandum of understanding, signed n Mexico City, establishes a joint planning committee that will produce a study of ways to improve the corridor along Interstate 19 in Arizona and Highway 15 in Mexico. The primary north-south route in western Mexico and the western United States, the corridor feeds into Arizona’s port of entry system along with Arizona’s and Mexico’s highway systems.
The Arizona portion of the corridor will also serve as part of the anticipated route of Interstate 11, a multimodal transportation corridor from Nogales to the Hoover Dam bypass bridge. From there, I-11 will expand into northern Nevada, potentially reaching as far as Canada.
According to those familiar with the project, ADOT, along with politicians from both parties and multinational corporations are in simply in search of ever-higher profits through cheap labor. They note that the I-11 documents “clearly and unambiguously state that they intend for there to be research and development in Arizona and Nevada, and manufacture and assembly in Mexico. They clearly state the intention to attract American companies from China to Mexico, where wages are expected to be lower.”
Those same documents “clearly state their intent to attract container ships from high-paying West Coast ports to the Mexican Port of Guaymas, which is being expanded with financing from China.”
Related article: Avra Valley Coalition Opposes Trojan Horse I-11
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey said the agreement would “grow our binational trade and make our freight and trade corridor one of the most competitive in the global market.”
Halikowski stated in a press release, “Governor Ducey has challenged us to think big, to think as a business, and with this study we will push our sphere of influence beyond the border, helping Arizona companies tap into new business opportunities in Mexico. This will also help us position our corridor as a viable, cost-effective alternative to the corridors connecting Mexico to the Texas border.”
Mexico has pledged a mere $100,000 and ADOT $200,000 toward the first phase of the multiyear Arizona-Mexico Corridor Study, which will focus on identifying clusters for job creation and economic development along the entire corridor.
ADOT is a member of the Transportation and Trade Corridor Alliance, which includes the Arizona-Mexico Commission, the Arizona Commerce Authority and the Arizona Office of Tourism, along with other partner agencies.
David Farca, president of the Arizona-Mexico Commission stated that the study will “help us raise awareness of Arizona’s strategic geographic position in the heart of an economically powerful mega-region that gives us a competitive advantage in the global market and makes Arizona a prime location to do business.”
The Arizona-Mexico Corridor Study is expected to begin later this year.
Opponents to the corridor believed that once the public understood the “intentions to export American jobs and further shrink the middle class, were known, political leaders would reject I-11.” They now know they were wrong. They say that it “appears that for America’s leaders I-11 is simply business as usual. This is part of why so many Americans are rejecting establishment politicians and embracing “outsiders.”