U.S. Route 219 - Continental 1

Continental 1

The Pennsylvania 219 Association was founded in the late 1960s by a group of volunteers with the shared dream of seeing US Route 219 upgraded to a four-lane highway. Members of the Association were spread along the 219 corridor from Bradford in the north to Somerset County in the south. It was a loosely formed and governed group which enjoyed only moderate success over its 30 years of existence.

In the 1990s, the PA 219 Association recognized that if it were going to become more effective, it had to create a more professional organization. The Association became the genesis of the Continental One Alliance which also included representatives from Maryland, West Virginia, and Erie County, New York. The Pennsylvania 219 Association was absorbed into the C-1 Alliance and ceased to exist as a separate organization.

In November 1998, in DuBois, Pennsylvania, the Alliance conducted a day-long strategic planning meeting. Approximately 80 people participated in the planning process, with representatives from Maryland, West Virginia, and New York and all along the Pennsylvania 219 corridor from Bradford in the north to Somerset County in the south. A second planning meeting was held the following month at Holiday Valley Resort in Ellicottville, New York, and included representatives from the four founding states and Canada.

The attendees recognized that federal highway funding had become increasingly competitive and that 219 was competing for funding with other trade and travel corridors throughout the United States; and competing with other transportation priorities within the individual states. Other trade and travel corridors were well financed with professional staff and were able to lobby extensively in Washington and their state capitals.

As a result, the group decided to formally organize a multi-state coalition of public and private partners to push for the construction of a four-lane limited access highway from Toronto, Canada, to Miami, Florida. Four key goals were established:

1. Secure designation of Continental 1 as a federally recognized trade and travel corridor.
2. Secure funding for the construction of C-1 (Route 219) from Springville, New York, to its point of intersection with Interstate 86 at Salamanca, New York.
3. Secure funding for preliminary engineering and environmental studies for that part of Continental 1 (Route 219) from Bradford, PA, to its intersection with Interstate 80 at DuBois, PA.
4. Build an organization with long term sustainability.

To accomplish these goals, the Continental 1 Board began an intensive fund raising campaign and over the next year secured approximately $400,000, primarily from the private sector. It also received financial and political support from Chambers of Commerce and counties along the corridor. Continental 1 was formally incorporated on July 5, 2000. In the fall of 2000, Continental 1 hired an Executive Director and engaged the services of a Washington-based lobbyist.

Over the next several years, the Executive Director, lobbyist, and the volunteer board worked in Washington, Albany, and Harrisburg to secure two federal grants. The first grant provided $1.5 million to conduct a comprehensive study of the proposed corridor and was administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. This study was completed in the summer of 2007.

The second grant, a $1.5 million federal DOT grant, is being administered by the New York Department of Transportation and is directed to increase public awareness of Continental 1 and to establish a stable base for Continental 1's continued operations. A second objective of the study is to conduct a comprehensive study of trade and travel corridors. The study was kicked off during the late spring of 2008.