Old Ideas Refreshed...Even Better Today

About six months ago, Greg Siple (our art director and co-founder) handed me an article from American Cycling magazine entitled, "200,000 Miles of Bikeways: To Become a Reality Within Decade" (PDF/2M). Dated 1968, five years before Adventure Cycling was founded, it was touted as "The Magazine of Touring, Racing, and Family Bicycling." The article credits Mr. and Mrs. George Fichter, Floridian cycling advocates that focused "the attention of city fathers, federal and state governments, and the President [Lyndon B. Johsnon] of the United States, on the crying need for planned cycling facilities."

I read this article with fascination -- and you will too.

And, only a year ago, I sat in a long distance trails meeting and learned from Steve Elkinton, program leader for the National Park Service's National Trail System that there had been a movement a few years ago to create an inter-state trail network designed to connect communities across the United States.

Then, in August, an AASHTO staff member sent me an article from the 1982 AASHTO Quarterly Newsletter by Jack Freidenrich called, "Biking by Route Number" (PDF/568k) which detailed (with clear excitement) three new U.S. Bicycle Routes: Route 76 through Illinois, Kentucky and Virginia, and Route 1 through Virginia and North Carolina. These routes are also known as Adventure Cycling's TransAmerica Trail and the Atlantic Coast Route respectively.

So what the heck happened with these national efforts to get government support behind bicycling?

I recently spoke to Tom Huber, the bicycle and pedestrain coordinator for Wisconsin's Department of Transportation and he explained that twenty years ago, their was a clear effort to steer cyclists onto certain roads deemed appropriate for cycling. Then, the momentum in transportation shifted and the trend moved toward "suitability." In other words, tell the cyclists what to expect (shoulder widths, traffic counts) and let them make their own decisions about what roads to use.

Today, the momentum has shifted once again. Back, yes back, to what was originally a great idea. The American Cycling magazine article defined "bicycle safety routes" as "secondary roads connecting residential areas with schools, playgrounds, shopping centers, ball parks and other centers of activity...marked with easy-to-read signs."

Sounds a lot like our modern efforts to create a U.S. Bicycle Route System, as well as the bike route networks evolving in cities, the prospering safe routes to school programs across the country, and the flourishing greenways and trail systems popping up everywhere. I guess a good idea never gets old. Let's make sure though, that this time around, the 200,000 mile bikeway system becomes a reality.

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BUILDING THE U.S. BICYCLE ROUTE SYSTEM is posted twice per month by Ginny Sullivan, USBRS coordinator, and features news and updates related to the emerging U.S. Bicycle Route System.