Fabric is textural and takes many forms, from close-knit silks to knobby woolens. To become fabric, yarns are skillfully connected to determine the character of the fabric being created. Many fabrics are prized for the beautiful way the knitter has crafted the fabric from different yarns to create a useful bolt of cloth.

Pipes normally are closed systems sized according to rigid calculations as to size and material being transported. They function best when there are no interruptions to reduce capacity. The degree of roughness in a pipe is a part of the capacity analysis done by engineers to determine the pipe's capacity. The smoother the pipe and the fewer interruptions, the larger capacity the pipe will carry.

Perhaps fabric and pipes seem a strange topic, but indulge me a little further.

Our Moore County countryside, our hamlets, villages and towns are each made better by the manner in which they display the fabric from which they are made. Each fabric brings scale and interest to our unique place. They in many ways are the context on the land upon which we live.

A rural scenic lane is to be celebrated, just as a town main street or a meandering neighborhood street is revered for what it does in defining our lives and defining the character of the place we call home.

These nuanced and variable fabrics that we as a county create will define the quality of our lives and those in the future who choose to join our small part of the world. Our fabric is rich and varied. This very fabric is why Moore county is the treasure that it is today.

Contrast this with the pipe that is an expressway. It has few connections, as its function is to transport as many vehicles as possible at the greatest speed. It does not add to the nuanced fabric of a community, but by its very nature is much like a pair of scissors that cuts fabric into separate pieces. Whether the fabric is a treasured piece of nature, a neighborhood or a commercial area, it is severed.

So we have to choose. Do we want to protect and create the fabric that defines our county, or do we want to have it become Anywhere, America?

Fortunately for those who have previously chosen pipes, there is a movement afoot in many places to undo the damage they have done to the local fabric.

San Francisco, Milwaukee, Portland and New York all have removed or are in the process of removing freeways. Many others are in the early stages of doing the same. They are being replaced with boulevards and a connected grid of streets. Surprising to some but not others, the result has been less traffic congestion and huge increases in property values.

When the Embarcadero Freeway in San Francisco was damaged by the earthquake and subsequently closed and removed, a local newspaperman noted, "This is the day San Franciscans have chosen to live in their city rather than drive through it."

I suggest we choose not to create patterns of development that drive traffic to single choices. A connected grid of streets in our towns will allow many options on how to get to a destination. The dispersal of traffic volumes onto many routes, by its very nature, will reduce volumes on heretofore large thoroughfares, thereby alleviating the need for them to grow ever larger. These grids also provide opportunities for pedestrians and cyclists, which only enhances quality of life for everyone.

In the county, we should insist that large tracts of land, as they are developed, create and connect to multiple roads, creating a grid of streets at a minimum of a half-mile. This system of local streets providing multiple options to traverse the county will prevent the single choice that over time grows from a good local road to a disruptive highway that destroys the fabric of our community.

We are told we have choices. I would suggest we clearly and forcefully choose fabric over pipes. This is our community, and we are stewards of its future.

Larry Best is a retired landscape architect who has lived in Moore County for about 25 years. He is a past board member of the Walthour-Moss Foundation.