The Pavement Saga

Check out this little article written by Alexis Madrigal in which the central role of bicyclists in the proliferation of paved roadways in America is discussed. His piece begins with this informative bit of history:

"The bicycle, quite literally, paved the road for automobiles. The explosive popularity of the human-powered, two-wheeled vehicle sparked road construction across the Western world’s cities. The League of American Wheelmen was a major vector for the political will necessary to build better roads with more than one million members (out of a mere 75 million people) at its peak. Sure they engaged in silliness like racing and bicycle polo (!) but at heart, the group was a potent, progressive social force that inadvertently helped bring about its own end by getting roads paved, thus making long distance 'touring' possible in automobiles."

As Madrigal mentioned, it is definitely ironic that the push for better bicycling infrastructure "inadvertently helped bring about its own end" and led to its most common and widespread enemy: the automobile.

Boulder has recently taken some interesting steps in returning paved roads to their bicycle-centered roots. Last month, the city began an important experiment in which certain car parking spaces along Pearl Street have been converted to bike racks.

This is a great first step in giving bicycles higher priority in our cities, and in viewing them as viable and legitimate means of daily transportation. Given the interesting historical role of bicycles, it is an interesting move toward the reclaiming of America's streets by the very social force which gave rise to paved roads in the first place. Let's be sure the cycling community stays strong and active so that these new racks stay always full of happily parked bikes. Let's work to return paved roads to their original purpose – more accessible and enjoyable bicycling!