NASCO was founded in 1994 in North Texas as the “I-35 Corridor Coalition” by a group of local elected officials and private industry partners concerned about the recently ratified North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and its impact on congestion in the region. Interstate Highway 35, which runs from Laredo, Texas to Duluth, Minnesota, and has major connectors to Central and Eastern Canada, was already a critical corridor for trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico. People tend to forget there was a substantial amount of North American trade before NAFTA, and I-35 was already very congested with trucks moving through Texas.
These entities came together in an effort to improve the highway infrastructure in Texas to accommodate the growth in trade, and to turn what could be a congestion crisis into an opportunity for economic development and growth.
Word traveled fast. Many other elected officials along I -35 from north Texas all the way to the Laredo border crossing found out about the effort and wanted to join. There was even interest from Mexico, and the interest grew to Oklahoma, Kansas City, and even Manitoba, Canada. As the interest grew, so did the vision.
In 1996, the group decided they wanted to formally organize and become a non-profit corporation. At that time, they began using the acronym NASCO, which stood for North America’s Corridor Coalition - the I-35 highway was referred to as “North America’s Corridor” because it connects Mexico, the heartland of the United States and Canada by way of I-29, and there was such a substantial amount of North American trade moving on it.
The Coalition members recognized that North American freight was not just moving by truck, but moved on all modes of transportation and in every direction. Freight movement impacts every industry, every community, and every person. Freight movement is the backbone of every nation’s economy, and issues can’t be solved in isolation. Things overlap.
NASCO began to gradually expand its focus on trucking to include every mode of transportation, sea and inland ports, supply chains and logistics, environmental issues caused by freight movement, energy opportunities throughout North America, and, eventually, how to solve the workforce skills gap – a crisis facing every North American company and economy.
NASCO grew, and continues to grow, it’s membership very organically – mostly by word of mouth passed from one satisfied member to their other business contacts.
As it stands today, NASCO is a unique trinational coalition that brings together business leaders, policymakers, academic institutions, and workforce organizations from across Canada, the United States, and Mexico. With decades of experience promoting cross-border collaboration and advancing supply chain efficiency and security, NASCO has established itself as the premier voice for operational competitiveness in North America.
