Uploaded on 2017-05-11 by Robert Edward Smith

Located in Cumberland, Maryland, a small city of 20,000 people, the Western Maryland Health System (WMHS) hospital faces the grounds of Allegany College of Maryland. Behind the row of trees is a two lane road which has two round-abouts. The hospital was recently built a few years ago, and traffic is increasing in the area. The facility is clearly large enough to accompany a helicopter landing pad among other features. While the area has more and more buildings including a mental health center, the county department of health, two medical centers, and a college campus, the transportation element has been largely ignored. City planners will have to consider widening the road. Two pieces of invisible information can be extracted from the round-abouts. First and most obviously, the use of round-abouts in the United States is very rare, especially in more rural areas. Their implementation in this area suggests there are plans to accomodate the increase of traffic in a smart manner. The round-abouts are smart because a traffic light intersection would hault the flow of medical transport. The second piece of invisible information, is the sidewalk that extends from the round-abouts. The sidewalk ends abruptly at the end of the second round-about, which can be vaguely viewed on the left side of the image. This suggests that there may be plans to widen the road. To build more sidewalk while taking into account space for widening the road would require the County or City to take some land away from the college grounds through the power of eminent domain, a controversial governmental power to seize property. This fact, with of course budgetary constraints being a factor, are the likely reasons why sidewalks have not been constructed, despite being in demand. Many people in this area walk along the side of the road.