Sunday’s Maine Sunday Telegram had an interesting article by Colin Woodard on the proposed East-West Highway across north central Maine, providing a direct link from southwestern New Brunswick to southern Quebec. Interesting in that the article highlighted a common theme embedded in all our debates about economic development and politics–either/or thinking, sometimes called binary thinking. It’s thinking that only allows for two, rather than multiple possibilities.

In this case, Peter Vigue, chief executive for Cianbro, one of Maine’s premiere construction firms, is pitching the idea that Maine (north of Waterville, basically) has a choice–build a $2 billion, 220-mile closed-access toll highway sweeping through the forests of rural Washington, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset and northern Franklin counties, or forever risk remaining an economic backwater. That’s an oversimplification, but not a gross one. Continue reading →