A strong advocate of an Interstate-standard highway across the North Country says local officials who have seen a state Department of Transportation report on proposals for a Potsdam-Canton bypass are confused by it and oppose it.

“It’s a very confusing document,” said Potsdam Village Trustee Steven Warr, according to a press release sent on behalf of the Northern Corridor Transportation Group by former St. Lawrence County Legislator Jason Clark of Norfolk.

Clark has long favored a proposed “I-98” plan for a multi-lane limited-access highway built to Interstate standards across northern New York, which he believes will stimulate economic growth and provide jobs.

Potsdam Town Councilman James Grant, quoted by Clark, said, “the report fails to discuss economic development potential in any way. Nowhere does it even reference the possibility of expanded commerce via Canada. That was the whole point.”

Clark said St. Lawrence County Legislator Rick Perkins (D-District 7) said, “almost one out of every ten trucks coming into the United States from Canada pass through the North Country and they failed to even acknowledge the value of expanded commerce in their analysis? Really?”

The DOT report, which Clark says is entitled “North Country Access Improvements; Technical Memorandum, Watertown to Plattsburgh Corridor,” reportedly concerns a survey of residents on a proposed Canton-Potsdam bypass, which was not envisioned as a part of “I-98.”

Clark said that as part of his 2014 budget presentation, Gov. Andrew Cuomo promoted plans for the bypass.

In his January 2014 State of the State message, Cuomo announced a plan to study the feasibility of creating a new east-west interstate highway across the North Country connecting I-81 near Watertown with I-87 near Plattsburgh.

“Consistent with the will of most North Country municipalities, the bypass would be built to interstate standards and would serve as the starting point for developing the broader Interstate 98 concept,” Clark said in his release.

In the introduction, Clark said, the report says that one of the primary objectives was “to evaluate the economic development potential and benefits of proposed alternatives to inform the decision making process.”

Potsdam Village Trustee Steven Warr told Clark that there are other serious issues with the report. “There are data set errors between sections, the findings presented on one page are presented as different numbers on other pages, even the terminus location shuffles back and forth between Plattsburgh and Rouses Point. Some of the modeling assumptions are entirely unrealistic. It just makes no sense that the Department of Transportation would spend this kind of money on something so flawed.”

The New York State Department of Transportation has not released the report to the public. DOT has anticipated release of the document for months.