Fly Creek, Index, Milford, Portlandville and, to varying degrees, all of Otsego County is facing the same challenge. How do we encourage growth, development and prosperity of our towns and villages, while maintaining and improving the quality of life that we all treasure?

As more businesses and more traffic are added to the Route 28 corridor between Oneonta and Cooperstown every summer, county residents are justifiably anxious about what the county will look like in twenty years. How do we save it from becoming a sprawling mess of too many lanes, too many cars, too much speed, and too much asphalt?

It's done by planning for the safety and convenience of people instead of for the safety and convenience of cars. Plan for people first and "smart growth" development falls into place. Put cars at the top of the list and any development project will fail the quality of life test. "How walkable is the area?" is the safeguarding question that protects planners and planning boards from making grievous mistakes.

Fortunately, planners and traffic engineers have learned a lot from the sprawling mistakes of the 1970's. They know that simply adding more lanes does not ease traffic congestion.

That only adds more cars, faster speeds and eventually even more congestion. They know that traffic-calming techniques work, moving a greater volume of vehicles, motorized and non-motorized, at safer speeds.

They also know that traffic has to slow down. It's important to keep cars from killing people. A pedestrian hit by a car going 40 miles an hour has an 85 per cent chance of being killed; if the car is going 18 mph the chance is reduced to 5 per cent.

Slower traffic and traditional transportation (walking and cycling) is also necessary for a community's economic health. No one can window-shop at 60 miles per hour and we don't want all those dollars potentially spent in our towns speeding through on the way to somewhere else.

Communities that cater to pedestrians, cyclists, public transportation and cars, in that order, create the environment that fosters community spaces and gathering places, the kinds of places that people like to frequent and leave their money. We have the opportunity now to make Otsego County a stellar example of that kind of smart growth. We can create villages and hamlets that, through their sheer livability and attractiveness become destinations in themselves. They become the reason to stop, enjoy a local eatery, shop for a memorable souvenir, and support our local economies.

Walkable communities are prosperous communities. You can take it to the bank.

Brenda Berstler is the founder of the Walking Example Group (WE-GO) a non-profit organization encouraging walking and walkable communities. Visit their website at www.we-go.org.