Even relying on private money, it took Thomas Edison 2,000 tries to create a light bulb that didn’t consume its filament moments after being electrified.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some 17 years after the University of Maine began investigating building bridges with wood fiber, relying heavily on intermittent public financing, the concept is taking tangible form. Habib Dagher and the university’s Advanced Engineered Wood Composite Center rightfully can take a bow knowing that U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is now carrying data — and the memory of a firsthand demonstration — on the bridge concept back to Washington, D.C.
But that bow better be a quick one.
Leaders like former Gov. Angus King, Gov. John Baldacci, the state’s congressional delegation (past and present) and many others have championed the new bridge technology since the early 1990s. But current and emerging leaders in the public and private sectors must continue to work to create opportunities for the “bridge in a backpack” and related bridges to be built. Each time the bridge is built, efforts to sell another version of the technology will be easier, as prospective customers will be able to see the product in a real-world setting and observe how it stands up to the rigors of weather and road stress.
There is no reason Maine enterprises cannot corner the market on manufacturing and distributing these small bridge components. The 17-plus-year effort may be approaching the point in the curve where demand will accelerate rapidly, so the private and public sectors must be prepared to provide a quality product and to adapt to applications that are as yet unimagined.
The same dynamic will play out in alternative energy development. Wood pellet heating plants designed for large public buildings such as offices and schools, championed by Gov. Baldacci, must be designed well and built for practical application. That process may also take years. The same course lies before the offshore wind power concept. Patience, perseverance and public investment are needed for these ideas to blossom into real-world fixes to real-world problems.
In an editorial on the emerging bridge published just before the 1994 gubernatorial election, the BDN wrote: “The next governor should make development of this industry a priority.”
The same can be said today.