Building ramps to information highway will pave the way to Carroll's future
08/02/06 Westminster Eagle column By Kevin E. Dayhoff
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The politics and economics of roads, growth, development, business and agriculture have always played a prominent role in
In 1804, the
That road is essentially what we now know as
It was built to replace an old wagon trail that predated the French and Indian War and primarily to facilitate the movement of agricultural products to markets outside the county.
In those days,
According to Carol Lee's "Legacy of the Land," as Carroll County and the nation were climbing out of economic panic of 1837, Baltimore became "the main canning center for supplying food to the California miners and the rapidly developing west."
"For
Ms. Lee writes that in the 1840s, "Transportation was still key to marketing and the [over-crowded] county's roads were still in terrible condition. ... Citizen's petitions to the county commissioners constantly complained about the 'hard, circuitous routes we are obliged to travel.' "
We can learn from
Today's technology highway, offers Carroll a similar alternative. That highway includes wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, a high-frequency local area network that provides Internet access.
Much of the raw material that
The roads of yesterday now encourage suburban sprawl. Roads and (until recently) cheap gas allowed citizens to keep high-paying jobs outside of Carroll County while moving here to enjoy our high quality of life - negatively affecting our quality of life in the process.
Investment in the technology highway has no deleterious affect on land use or agriculture. Investment in yesterday's pre-French and Indian War roads will bring us more congestion, ultimately requiring us all to dig into our pockets and put more money into schools and infrastructure made necessary by the inevitable residential development of agricultural land.
As we manage residential growth, we need to adjust our focus toward supporting existing businesses (of which agriculture is still the biggest) and attracting more jobs to
In the next 20 years,
Not all of the new folks have to live in
The answer is developing more jobs right here in
The only highway Carroll should be interested in these days is the information-technology highway. Rather than a road, build a Wi-Fi highway to bring jobs and improve our quality of life.
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