Message to the Congress Transmitting a Report of Negotiations With Canada on Reconstruction of the Alaska Highway.

To the Congress of the United States:

I hereby submit to the Congress a Report of the negotiations with the Government of Canada concerning the reconstruction of the Alaska Highway between Dawson Creek, Canada, and the Alaska border. Pursuant to Section 119 of Public Law 91-605, these negotiations were held in the summer and fall of 1971 between representatives of our Departments of State and Transportation and officials of the respective Canadian Ministries.

Based upon these discussions, the Secretaries of Transportation and State have concluded, and I have agreed, that a U.S. offer to Canada to undertake this project on a cost-sharing basis would not be justified at this time. Our negotiations closed with an understanding that this would be the United States position. The Canadian Government has also indicated that it does not wish to undertake such a project with its own resources.

Underlying these conclusions are the facts that alternative transportation routes are now being developed, especially in British Columbia, and that anticipated traffic volume on the Alaskan Highway should not be sufficiently heavy to warrant reconstruction and paving. The enclosed Report, submitted in response to Section 19(b) of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1970 (P.L. 91-605), spells out these findings in greater detail.

As a result of these conclusions, no further action seems necessary at this time.

RICHARD NIXON

THE WHITE HOUSE,

February 8, 1972.