Press Play with Madeleine Brand
How bicycles paved the way for better roads in America
Back before the 110 freeway was clogged with cars, it was a toll road for bikes. The ribbon was cut on the first leg of California Cycleway on January 1st, 1900. But the bicycle craze of the 1890s went bust when the king car came to town. The California Cycleway is just one example of how bicycles paved the way for better roads in America.
By Madeleine Brand • • 1 min readBack before the 110 freeway was clogged with cars, it was a toll road for bikes. The ribbon was cut on the first leg of California Cycleway on January 1st, 1900. But the bicycle craze of the 1890s went bust when the king car came to town. The California Cycleway is just one example of how bicycles paved the way for better roads in America. As Los Angeles grapples with how to change our attitudes about who owns the road in our city, what can we learn from the history of cycling and infrastructure?
