A Unified Northeast Corridor:
Dream, Necessity, Or Both?
March 11, 2007

PHILADELPHIA -- To many people across America, the historic Northeast Corridor -- Maine to Virginia -- has an old, cold, crowded image. But could it be young, green and creative, a cutting-edge region of 21st-century America?

That question, posed by Petra Todorovich of the New York Regional Plan Association, engaged a Northeast Climate and Competitiveness Summit convened here March 2.

A close geographic match to many of the 13 colonies that formed the United States more than 200 years ago, the Northeast Corridor today is 50 million people strong and can boast a $2.7 trillion economy, 27 percent of the nation's output. In finance, media, health care and higher education, it still trumps many newer regions of the nation.