Discussion
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"There is simply not enough money to meet conventional transportation needs for the future."
- Larimer County Commissioner Jim Disney, at the Telecommuting Conference, Ft. Collins 3/24/94
For nearly one hundred years, the Estes Park area has been a favored destination for visitors from all over the world. It's natural beauty attracts literally millions of guests each year, and that annual infusion of seasonal residents and vacationers has created a significant economic base for the community. At the same time, the same physical geography that creates the magic of the area's natural beauty has inhibited the opportunity for diversification of the economy because of the cost and relative difficulty of highway access. Recently, however, new developments in technology and fundamental changes in the nature of our country's business structure have combined to make distance, location, and geography irrelevant to th successful conduct of business activities. As a consequence, Estes Park finds itself in a position to take advantage of new opportunities.
As noted by Commissioner Disney in the quote opening this section, our area's ability to accommodate increased vehicular traffic is limited. According to Laura Bishop of the Colorado Department of Health, vehicular traffic in the metropolitan area of Denver now equals 38 million vehicle miles per day. In Fort Collins, the total is 1.4 million vehicle miles per day. Funds available for highway construction equal only about 10% of projected needs over the next several years if traffic volumes continue to grow at their present rate, and despite improved emissions levels, the greater numbers of vehicles and miles driven constitute a serious threat to both human and environmental health.
At the same time, major shifts in the nature and content of work are taking place. The concepts of the industrial revolution are giving way to new ideas about what constitutes work and where it must be done. Frank Cottle, a developer of telecommuting work centers in California, notes that in 1984 only 10% of individuals between the ages of 45 and 60 were computer literate. In 1994, that figure is 80%. Although difficult to quantify, the knowledge content of work is now thought to be as high or higher than actual goods produced. Tom Peters, in his book "Liberation Management" notes that by the end of this century (not far away) the proportion of the work force in this country that actually makes things will be as low as 10% of the total. The remainder will be involved in providing services to others. Fifteen years ago, there were about 700,000 personal computers in this country. At the end of 1993, there were an estimated 30 million. Finally, increasing competitive pressures from a world-wide market have led growing numbers of companies to adopt cost-saving measures such as the use of temporary, or virtual, work forces, and to abandon expensive buildings and real estate.