Highway funding, economy topics of upcoming roundtable

The relationship between highway funding and economic development will be examined in Great Falls April 16 at "Highways to the Future:
Transportation Dollars and Economic Development in Montana," the Burton K. Wheeler Center for Public Policy’s Spring Business
Roundtable.

By BETH BRITTON
Tribune Business Editor

The roundtable will held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Holiday Inn, 400 10th Ave. S.

Gov. Judy Martz will open the event. Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Conrad Burns, R-Mont., will participate, along with several state
legislators, government agency administrators and transportation officials.

Robert Gorman, transportation planner for the Office of Intermodal & Statewide Programs at the Federal Highway Administration in
Washington, D.C., is the lunch speaker.

The Burton K. Wheeler Center, located in Bozeman at Montana State University, sponsors annual spring roundtables and fall conferences.
The center is a nonpartisan and privately funded public policy forum. Its mission is to assemble Montanans to discuss statewide issues.

Julie Hitchcock, the center’s associate director, said the time is right for a discussion of highway funding.

"It’s clear that there’s a lot going on in the area of economic development and highway funding across the country," Hitchcock said. "We’re
very interested in giving people the opportunity to weigh in on this issue."

The proposed expansion of Highway 2 will be used as a case study, but Hitchcock said discussion will touch on all aspects of highway
development, including social and environmental aspects and the state’s overall economic picture.

The public is encouraged to attend.

"All of our conferences are directed at and designed for the general public," Hitchcock said. "We really feel that they are the primary
audience, and we would love to have public input."

Roundtable schedule

When: April 16

Where: Holiday Inn, 400 10th Ave. S.

Cost: $15, includes lunch and materials.

Registration deadline: April 12. To register, call (406) 994-0336 or visit http://www.montana.edu/wheeler.

SCHEDULE

8:15 a.m. — Check-in and coffee.

9 a.m. — Welcome, speaker Gov. Judy Martz.

9:15 a.m. — Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Conrad Burns, R-Mont., (via video).

9:45 a.m. — Case Study: Highway 2, Sen. Sam Kitzenberg, R-Glasgow.

10 a.m. — Panel: Developing Rural Highway Corridors: Costs and Benefits.

11:30 a.m. — Lunch. Speaker Robert Gorman, Transportation Planner for the Office of Intermodal & Statewide Programs, Federal Highway
Administration, Washington, D.C.

12:30 p.m. — Panel: Transportation and Economic Development: a 21st Century Perspective.

2 p.m. — Roundtable discussion; Moderator: Steve Albert, director of the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University.

3 p.m. — Closing comments, Wheeler Center director Gordon Brittan.

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