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Montana's transportation future: opportunities around the next curve.

Article Excerpt
Transportation--the movement of people and goods over physical distance--has always been a vital ingredient of economic growth. Prosperity is derived from trade, which requires access to markets, workers, and suppliers--both in our own backyard and beyond. We depend on the highways, railroads, airports, pipelines and other infrastructure around us to make that happen. With innovations in technology and increasing globalization affecting all aspects of life, we should be aware that the demands on that infrastructure, particularly in rural states like Montana, are growing and changing.

Transportation and the Economy

The impacts of transportation on the economy are all around us. Roads, bridges, railroad crossings, and airports are built, maintained, and expanded, creating thousands of jobs in construction, engineering, and professional services. But long after the pavement is dry, those investments continue to pay dividends as workers, shippers, governments, and businesses use them to connect to one another. Transportation affects economic productivity and growth both directly and indirectly as reflected in the jobs it enables and the mobility it provides for people and products.

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Highway construction, for example, supports 27 jobs...