MONCTON, N.B. — St. Stephen, St. John and Calais have finally made it to the American Automobile Association’s (AAA) map.

The three communities are key locations for American drivers wanting to plan a direct way into the eastern provinces. If these routes are not taken, drivers will end up driving hundreds of miles farther than necessary, and Keith Guttormnsen, executive director of the Calais Chamber of Commerce, says these towns will lose out on the potential commerce.

The online Triptik service by the AAA has included these communities on their maps, however, Guttormnsen says they are available for those who already know the route from those areas, because the driver must specify that they would like to go through these towns.

Drivers don’t encounter the same problems with the paper Triptik maps that the AAA distributes, Guttormnsen says. And when the blunders hit the news in June, Gary Howard, Atlantic regional marketing director for the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA), blamed a fluke in the AAA’s prototype computer software, which is available to U.S. subscribers but not here.

Jan Coyle, director of geographic information systems for the AAA, sent a letter to the Maine-New Brunswick Corridor Committee, assuring him she would have the problems fixed as soon as possible.