With Minnesota now in the Northern Union, there is a need to help link its infrastructure to our own. A route already exists from the Twin Cities north to Thunder Bay, where the Trans-Northern Highway provides a gate east for motor traffic while Duluth offers a port to transport goods and people to the eastern provinces. However, to link the Twin Cities to our western provinces, we wish to create a more efficient route west.

Interstate 94 links to Interstate 29 in Fargo and I-29 links Fargo to Winnipeg. This would be the simplest and most efficient route to Winnipeg and points west from the Twin Cities, but the interstate runs through your borders. We could build our own freeway on our side of the border, but that sounds like an extreme misuse of funds. Though we have worked together to decrease border cross times, we think the border still presents a barrier to trade and travel. As a result, we want to see if there was a way we could allow Northern travelers to use I-29 through your territory without needing to stop for customs.

One idea we had was to create fast-lanes at the border at I-29’s crossing into Manitoba and I-94’s crossing into North Dakota. These lanes would not require stopping, but would photograph license plates of travelers in the way toll booths do. If the license plate is not registered as having crossed the other fast lanes out of the country within 24 hours, they would face criminal charges in both countries and possibly have their passports revoked. This allows travelers to easily travel along the I-29 corridor without stopping but also has a mechanism for maintaining border security.

We are also open to other suggestions. We look forward to hearing back.