OTTAWA, Ont. — Canadian Trucking Alliance chief David Bradley has doubts the Council of Ministers responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety will be able to carry out their plan to expand the National Highway System (NHS).

The ministers made their announcement today at their meeting in Calgary, following a report and recommendations by the National Highway System Review Task Force. The Task Force was led by Transport Canada and the New Brunswick Department of Transportation, with participation by all federal, provincial and territorial transportation departments.

According to the plan, approximately 4,500 km of feeder routes and 5,900 km of northern and remote routes will being added to the NHS, as well as approximately 500 km of key intermodal connector routes. Government officials said the expansion will result in an even better highway system for the benefit of all provinces and territories, and help increase safety on our roads, which the Council says is a priority.

But CTA chief Bradley is skeptical about the council’s ability to carry out its plan. “That just means even less of the system is funded,” he said. “Canada remains the only major industrialized country on the planet not to have a national highway policy, unless no plan and no funding is a policy.”

The expanded NHS agreed upon today encompasses 38,021 km of key highway linkages in three categories:

Core Routes: Key interprovincial and international corridor routes

Feeder Routes: Key linkages to the Core Routes from population and economic centres (including links to intermodal facilities and important border crossings)

Northern and Remote Routes: Key linkages to Core and Feeder routes that provide the primary means of access to northern and remote areas, economic activities and resources.

The full report of the Task Force can be found at www.comt.ca.