The
Bicycle and the Geography of the United States Roadscape
By Mike T. Beck
Better
Bicycling Bureau
©2014
Mike T Beck
Abstract
The history of
bicycling is interwoven with the shaping of the geography of the United States
of America. The impact of the bicycle has broadly affected the roadscape and
transportation planning policy. By the end of the 19th Century, the
bicyclist-led Good Roads movement reshaped the nature of domestic travel. The
bicycle expanded the reach of local roads, led to uniform traffic regulations,
put folded road maps into favor, and brought progressive transportation tax
policies to the country side. The bicycle led a contested dialogue about land
use and fundamentally changed how the public interacts with geography. During
the 20th Century, the automobile rose to prominence and subsumed the
bicycles’ earlier impact on the roadscape. In the 21st Century,
federal to local governmental policies increasingly mandate the inclusion of
bike traffic in roadway design. The bicycle continues to alter how the public
interacts with local geography. Through a survey of the literature, the
historical record, the popular press and current transportation planning
standards, this paper will clarify the influence of the bicycle on the
geography of the United States. The findings contribute to the academic
discourses on transportation planning and urban form with a detailed
consideration of the impact of the bicycle on the geography of the United
States roadscape.
Keywords: Bicycle, geography, roadscape,
urban planning
