To the Editor:

“I-98.” There is no plan, no route, no funding.

According to Wikipedia there is no federal designation of it as a current or future interstate highway project. The name, “I-98,” is fiction except in the minds of its proponents who created it as an advertising and promotion gimmick.

Yet, here we go again with the “I-98” crowd doubling down on yet another propaganda campaign of resolutions from towns and villages in St. Lawrence County to once again try to create the illusion that everyone is in favor of this really bad idea. By one estimate, Jason Clark, “I-98 marketer-in-chief,” received at least $80,000, perhaps more, from a network of agencies and bureaucracies including the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency, St. Lawrence Valley River Development Authority, Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority, Massena Business Development Corporation and the St. Lawrence County Legislature.

The legislature alone authorized $40,000 in 2011 for promotion of the interstate highway concept. They further stated their hope to increase that amount to $50,000 in 2012. Will they now promote Rt. 11 with equal vigor as they claim in their latest resolution?

“We support “I-98 and Rt. 11.” That sounds innocent enough except that there has been no discussion about how they intend to support Rt. 11 because this is really about  “I-98,” Once again, there is no mention of plans, existing studies, economic models, local impacts or funding potential.

There have been 35 years of studies that have produced a massive body of facts that clearly identify Rt. 11, upgraded to “expressway standards” (not an interstate highway), as the most feasible and fundable option for the region.

What do the resolution seekers say about Rt.11? “Well, of course we support maintaining Rt. 11.”

Right, so long as “I-98” is the priority project.  They continue to argue that $6.3 million approved for Rt, 11 is for more study of “I-98.” In fact, the use of the money for the Rt. 11 expressway is a fully authorized use of the funds within the original legislation, requiring no “repurposing legislation.” Remember, there is no “I-98!”

How could it have been intended for something that was and is officially non-existent? “I-98” advocates are desperate to get money spent on their “road-show” so they can then say, “Well, you’ve spent $6 million, you can’t turn back now! Only 8 or 10 billion to go! We’ve never been closer!”

A troubling part of this episode is that the entities who are signing these resolutions are often the ones least affected.

They are not seeking information beyond the sales pitch that the marketeers bring to these resolution meetings, along with the pre-printed, ready-to-sign, resolutions. I found it amusing when I heard that Long Lake had signed the resolution.  

As a town council member from another town said recently, “The highway would be quite a ways away from us, so it wouldn’t really affect us much..

It will certainly affect the towns it would plow through, though.

Recently, Wade Davis, CEO of the OBPA, was discussing the shortfall in funding to complete the new Ogdensburg Port approach road. He correctly said that we need all of our political and civic leaders to work together to find the funding needed to complete the access road.

He is seeking $600,000, not 6, 8 or 10 billion debt-financed dollars. The Rt .11 plan is designed on a pay-as-you-go basis. That would be refreshing.

John Danis, Canton