On March 23, 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin inaugurated the Security and Prosperity Partnership for North America (SPP). The SPP endeavors to enhance the competitive position of North American industries in the global marketplace and provide greater economic opportunity for all of our societies, while maintaining high standards of health and safety for our people. The three countries will work together, in consultation with stakeholders, to improve productivity, reduce the costs of trade, and enhance the quality of life for our people.

The SPP is divided into security and prosperity components. The U.S. Department of Transportation is engaged in several important initiatives as part of the prosperity component of the SPP. Specifically, the transportation initiatives of the SPP seek to improve the safety and efficiency of North America’s transportation system by expanding market access, facilitating multimodal corridors, reducing congestion, and alleviating bottlenecks at the border that inhibit growth and compromise our quality of life. Communication with stakeholders who have an interest in these issues is key to success in this effort. Thus, we are providing this web page as a means of communicating to us your views on the Department’s SPP projects, which are summarized below. Please use the Docket Management System (DMS) to transmit your comments to us. While we cannot respond individually to your comments, please be assured that all of them will be given full attention and consideration.

We would like to receive your comments and suggestions on the transportation initiatives by April 29, 2005 in order to provide sufficient time for us to incorporate them into our later discussions with our Canadian and Mexican counterparts, who are soliciting comments from their stakeholders as well. Our combined efforts will become part of the broader U.S.-Mexico-Canada SPP effort.

The SPP provides a significant opportunity to move forward on a number of transportation issues and to improve the flow of transportation and trade among the three partners. Hearing the views of key stakeholders is essential to taking full advantage of that opportunity.

Thank you for your cooperation and participation in our SPP effort. We look forward to hearing from you on this important endeavor.

More useful information can be found at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s SPP website.