By JOHN FLESHER

Associated Press Writer

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Bottlenecks along the U.S.-Canadian border resulting from the terrorism scare are hampering economic growth in the Great Lakes region and should be a front-burner issue in the presidential campaign, says a report being released Sunday.

It urges the two nations to develop a “border of the future,” using advanced technology to quicken the movement of people, goods and services without sacrificing needed security measures. They also should upgrade border-area infrastructure such as bridges, rail lines and ports, says the analysis by the Brookings Institution, a policy research organization based in Washington, D.C.

The report argues that a broad swath of territory — reaching from upstate New York to Minnesota, and across the southern tier of Quebec and Ontario — is a single economic region linked by the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River system.

Its future prosperity depends on businesses and governments overcoming provincialism and thinking regionally, said John Austin, director of Brookings’ Great Lakes Economic Initiative and one of the report’s writers. They should work more cooperatively on research and innovation, environmental protection and promoting renewable energy development and trade, the report says.

“We’re not islands; we’re mutually dependent,” Austin said. “We need an attitude adjustment. We have powerful attributes that we can build on and benefit from, if we have effective leadership.”

But the policies and investments needed to spur the Great Lakes economy cannot come from the region alone, he said. They should be a federal priority, and the region’s voters should push the presidential candidates to show interest.

“There’s an obsession with China around the globe,” Austin said. “We do more trade with Canada in one day than we do over weeks and months with China.”

About $1.2 billion worth of commerce flows daily between the U.S. and Canada. Trade at one border crossing — the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario — matches all U.S. exports to Japan.

Despite struggles caused largely by the decline of heavy industry such as automobile manufacturing, the region still has much going for it, including prominent universities and natural resources such as fresh water and forests, the report says.

But its transition to an economy based on technology and innovation is being slowed by an inadequate transportation system and the security crackdown that followed the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Confusion over new requirements to show proof of citizenship is discouraging Canadians from visiting U.S. border cities such as Detroit for shopping and entertainment, said Sarah Hubbard, vice president of government relations with the Detroit Regional Chamber.

Another proposed rule would require shippers to give U.S. port authorities a full day’s notice of what cargo they are bringing across the border, she said. But Detroit automakers can place orders with companies in Windsor for parts needed on the assembly line in a matter of hours.

“What really alarms us is the speed at which these new requirements are being put on border crossings,” Hubbard said. “We depend on a free flow of traffic with Canada.”

The report calls for both nations to have a strategy in place by 2015 for unclogging border crossings.

Scanning devices and other technology under development will help, said Elaine Dezenski, a former U.S. Department of Homeland Security official who helped write the Brookings report. But equally important is for both federal administrations to make border efficiency a top priority.

“I don’t think any one government agency can do anything like this on its own,” said Dezenski, now senior vice president of a private technology company. “It has to come from the top.”

Posted 3/24/2008