By Edward Norvell

Special to the Salisbury Post

Growth is coming to Rowan County and we better be ready.

Over the holidays I had the unfortunate experience to drive on I-77 between Statesville and Charlotte between 4 and 5 p.m. It was a nightmare. From Mooresville to Charlotte it was mostly a parking lot; when not stopped, traffic went excruciatingly slow.

I have been following the debate over the I-77 toll lanes, the contract with a Spanish company with an agreement not to widen the highway for 50 years, angry voters, lawsuits, the debate between Charlotte, DOT and Raleigh — what a mess. I could also see very little sign of construction. It looks like little will be done to address their congestion for years.

Then I had the opportunity to drive from Salisbury to visit my son in Charlotte on I-85. Mooresville is the same distance from Charlotte as Kannapolis. Salisbury is about the same distance from Charlotte as Statesville. From Charlotte to Exit 55 (Hwy 73 at the Rowan-Cabarrus Community College South Campus) there is now a beautiful eight-lane highway. There is construction between exit 55 and exit 68 at China Grove, a stretch of about 13 miles. From exit 68 to Salisbury and beyond to Greensboro and Raleigh there is a beautiful eight-lane highway. There is no mention of toll lanes on I-85, no lawsuits, no controversy.

I understand that the Iredell County Commission voted to turn down federal money for light rail from Charlotte to the Lake Norman area, so there has been little or no progress on that front with the exception of some money for buses from Iredell to Charlotte.

On the I-85 corridor we already have a train and have for 160 years. We have beautiful train stations in Salisbury and Kannapolis, and the Charlotte Observer reports that Charlotte is getting ready to spend millions to build a new uptown train station. This is in addition to hundreds of millions of dollars of federal money spent to upgrade the tracks from Raleigh to Charlotte to prepare for high speed rail.

What does this all add up to? The Cabarrus-Rowan corridor of I-85 looks to be a lot better prepared to deal with the future growth of Charlotte than our friends to the west in Iredell County.

What do they have compared to us to attract residents and businesses? They have Lake Norman, which is now filled with million-dollar-plus homes, but we have High Rock Lake and the Yadkin River lakes where you can live at a fraction of the cost of living on Lake Norman but at the same distance from Charlotte.

What about shopping, restaurants and other amenities? Yes, they have great shopping in Davidson and Mooresville, but we have Kannapolis, which is getting ready to explode with downtown revitalization, shopping and restaurants; historic downtown Concord; and historic Salisbury. Salisbury has three downtown theaters, a nationally accredited art gallery, two new breweries, an historic train station, great restaurants, four colleges, history museums, a vibrant historic downtown and ten historic districts.

In addition to Salisbury, Rowan has several great municipalities with very affordable housing: Landis, China Grove, Spencer, East Spencer, Granite Quarry and Faith all close to I-85 and Rockwell and Cleveland if you are willing to drive a bit farther. All our towns have a great quality of life, affordable housing and are within a 45-minute drive of Charlotte — or Winston or Greensboro for that matter.

What does Mooresville have that Kannapolis and Rowan County do not have? Great public schools. This is our challenge. When doctors interview at the VA hospital or at Novant, and executives at Food Lion and other big companies, the first question they ask is about the schools.

I recently interviewed a talented young man for a very desirable executive position in Salisbury but he decided not to take it because his fiancé was concerned about relocating to Salisbury from Charlotte. This is something we need to work on.

My family and I have worked hard over the years to improve the quality of life in our community through our involvement with the arts, theater, the YMCA, RCCC, our private colleges, our church, the LandTrust, historic preservation and downtown revitalization. But as long as our schools (and I mean Kannapolis as much as Rowan schools) remain underperforming, we will be at a competitive disadvantage.

I read about the retreat of the Rowan County commissioners over the weekend and agree that we need to ready our infrastructure for more industry and jobs and we need to attract more diversified industry, but what I did not see was a commitment for more funding of our schools.

I hope that our leaders will recognize that improved public schools are a critical component of making our county ready for the challenges of this new century and to be able to deal with the growth that is inevitably coming our way.

Attorney Edward Norvell lives in Salisbury.