Why the Peace Bridge expansion project must move forward
We have the location, it's time to build the bridge!
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
Updated: 09/28/08 10:08 AM
It would be hard to overstate the importance of the Peace Bridge expansion project. It must move forward. In the post-9/11 era, the key to efficient borders is separating preapproved low-risk people and goods from those that need more examination. The low-risk people and goods should not have to wait on a three-lane bridge before gaining access to their expedited lane. At best, the delays resulting from insufficient infrastructure cause diversion to other crossings; at worst, it means trips are not made at all.
To understand how vital this expansion is to the region and especially to Buffalo, we have to look at both our history and how the border crossings anchored by the Peace Bridge fit into our economic underpinning. We have to see the opportunities those crossings present.
Many of us long for our rich manufacturing history, which some argue has been stolen by globalization. But we forget what brought the manufacturers here in the first place: our region’s geography.
Past, present and future, our strength is our location — close to the most-populated markets in North America. Steel wasn’t manufactured here because iron ore and coal were mined here; Cheerios aren’t made here because grain is grown here. Rather, it is our location that allows these goods to be efficiently, quickly and inexpensively moved on to those key markets. However, the strength of our location fades if we hinder the ability to move these goods.
History repeats itself. On March 3, 1805, President Thomas Jefferson signed an act of Congress designating Buffalo as an official Port of Entry, effectively launching its reign as the Queen City of the Great Lakes. The Erie Canal established our dominance and the railroads followed, cementing Buffalo as a major focal point on the continent’s east-west trade corridor. Through the 1800s and the first half of the 20th century, we took full advantage of our geography by first becoming a major transportation hub, which then triggered manufacturing.
Many believe that our role as a port ended when the St. Lawrence Seaway opened and lake traffic bypassed our port. Nothing could be further from the truth; we are now busier than at any time in our history. Although today there is not much traffic on the lake, the trucks and trains coming 24/7 place us among the top five busiest U.S. entry ports out of 310.
Why? The 1989 Canada-USA Free Trade Agreement followed by NAFTA caused trade patterns to shift, and Buffalo’s geographic location is again on a vital trade corridor. This time we are on a major north-south route, intersecting the east-west corridor. This connects us to the major Canadian population centers and the densely populated Eastern United States.
The enormous volume of trade that flows through the region has created a large work force and a huge infrastructure that has developed into one of our largest economic sectors — trade and logistics. The most obvious segment of logistics is trucks, but there’s far more to it than that. You see those who work protecting our border and processing those trucks. Beyond that are the accountants, bankers, lawyers, brokers and others who smooth the flow of international trade. There are tens of thousands of well-paying jobs in this region, thanks to our border crossings.
Over the past decade, geography, NAFTA and globalization have conspired to create a bigger opportunity for Buffalo and Western New York. Thus far, unlike the residents of Buffalo in the 1800s, we have not taken advantage of it. And like most opportunities, this one won’t last forever.
The opportunity being presented to us is to attract overseas companies that currently import goods into North America. We can combine our advantageous location with our rail infrastructure and substantial trade and logistics sector to attract these companies.
Currently these companies use overcrowded East and West Coast ports. They are doing it the hard way. By coming through the uncongested Canadian coastal ports, they can reach the Port of Buffalo faster, save on shipping and be perfectly positioned to distribute their goods to the most populous areas of North America. Most use second- day shipping to their final destinations, and Buffalo has the best second-day coverage of any originating location in the East. In addition, we can reach more than 80 percent of the Canadian population in two days.
This is a huge bonus for an offshore company doing business in North America. More important, many of these existing importers could set up a value-adding facility here, leveling the playing field for their products under NAFTA rules. That would create more of the clean, light manufacturing jobs that our region so desperately needs.
We have precious few advantages when it comes to attracting new businesses and jobs to our region. We need to cash in on this one. Our location opens the door to these small companies. We don’t have to bribe them to come here; they don’t need a lot of tax breaks or incentives; they don’t know about the Blizzard of ’77, wide right, no goal or what the rust belt is. We just have to tell them what we have to offer: location, location, location, savings, savings, savings.
There is no location in North America where these companies can operate as economically or be better positioned to reach consumers in both the United States and Canada.
There are already thousands of these companies importing into the United States and Canada — as many as 40,000 to 50,000 in the European Union alone. Think what it would mean if we could attract a couple of hundred of these small companies, each adding five to 100 jobs. And unlike a firm from another part of the country opening a branch, overseas firms coming here will need local banks, accounting firms, law offices, payroll services, insurance agents and other services.
But none of this can happen if their goods are hung up at the border while the seemingly endless debate about the Peace Bridge expansion drags on. We need an expanded Peace Bridge to play to our strength in trade and logistics.
There’s also tourism. Even before the era of $4 a gallon gas, tourism professionals knew that it’s always been about attracting regional, more so than national or international, visitors.
And what a region we are part of! Urban economic guru Richard Florida, a onetime University at Buffalo faculty member now at the University of Toronto, points out that we center “Tor-Buff-Chester,” his moniker for the economic powerhouse region stretching from Toronto to Rochester. In a recent Buffalo News opinion piece, Florida pointed out that, “Tor-Buff-Chester is currently home to about 22 million people and more than $530 billion in economic output, making it the fifth-largest mega-region in North America and the 12th largest in the world.”
The lion’s share of those 22 million mega-region inhabitants live on the Canadian side of the border. The Peace Bridge needs to function efficiently for Buffalo and Western New York to access our mega-market.
Western New York is blessed with a broad range of reasons for residents of that mega-market to visit. Even our infamous snow aids our tourism sector, and the Peace Bridge helps to feed our ski resorts. Our hospitality sector — hotels and restaurants — benefits.
Our beautiful summers also help to drive tourism traffic. And while Niagara Falls is tour-ism’s crown jewel, it is by no means all we have to offer. If you doubt that we have major tourism attractions, you are not paying attention. Our cultural assets abound. Frank Lloyd Wright called the Darwin Martin complex his “Opus.” It is the centerpiece of the largest — and growing — grouping of his work east of Chicago. The new Burchfield-Penney Art Center joins the Albright- Knox as art attractions in the Museum District, a huge draw.
The Bassmaster Elite Series brought the top bass fishermen on the planet to our Small Boat Harbor. As they battled for the big bucks on the line in this competition, they said these waters may offer “the best bass fishing in the world.” With a fisherman’s paradise to offer, who doesn’t believe that we can attract those interested in this sport from the mega-region and beyond?
We are just four years away from the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. While there was fighting in other parts of North America, the Niagara Frontier and the City of Buffalo (it was burned to the ground) was a center of the war. More fighting and by far the most casualties occurred here. Tourism promotion entities have been gearing up for this event; unfortunately, we won’t have a new Peace Bridge in time for this milestone, but it serves to remind us that we have a host of historic tourism draws that will continue to bring tourists from the mega-region and beyond.
And let’s not forget cross-border shoppers. Their support allows us access to retailers that our demographics wouldn’t support. More importantly, they bailed Erie County out of its financial crisis by contributing millions in sales tax revenue. The number would have been much higher if Canadian shoppers had greater certainty in border crossing times. Many did not cross because they didn’t know how long it would take to do so.
Recognizing the opportunities this concept presents to the region and the city is important to all of us. Understanding the importance of the Peace Bridge and its role now and in the future as the primary link in the mega-region is vital to our future. Much of what we rack up in tourism — especially in the city — comes from the millions of people on our doorstep, or more accurately, our “bridge-step.”
There’s also a quality-of-life aspect, for those of us who live right here. For example, the ability of the Bills and Sabres to continue to attract Canadian fans here could be the salvation of both of those franchises. This is simple demographics: while the fan base they want to reach is growing adequately in the mega-region, almost all of the growth is on the Canadian side.
Another quality-of-life intangible is our ability to cross the border for dinner or to go to the beach or to just experience a different environ “feel.” Waiting in long lines to cross the Peace Bridge certainly puts a damper on the experience.
And then there’s the great air service we have at Buffalo Niagara International and now the Niagara Falls airports. The improvement in destinations and the relatively low fares we enjoy are a result of the growing volume of flyers using these airports. And one in three flyers is a Canadian!
Our region has much riding on the Peace Bridge expansion. It is a key factor in the existing economy of the city and the region. It is vital to developing future opportunities known and unknown to us at this point. If we are to capitalize on the mega-regionalism reality, we need an expanded Peace Bridge.
The explosion in international trade is coming; our future relies on our ability to move goods through our port and attract the kinds of growth international trade can produce. We have the other pieces of a much larger trade and investment puzzle in place, but expanding the Peace Bridge is the key piece. It will take political leadership to move this project forward. We dare not delay while these opportunities pass us by.
Patrick J. Whalen is chief operating officer of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. He founded and operated an international cross-border logistics firm, and is a board member of the Can/Am Border Trade Alliance. He conceived and spearheaded the effort to obtain a World Trade Center license for the region stretching from Hamilton, Ont., to Rochester, and serves on its board. He also is a board member of the Binational Tourism Alliance and a number of other trade and civic organizations.
