
In 1900, Los Angeles had a bike highway - jrs235
http://www.vox.com/2015/6/30/8861327/bike-lanes-history
======
myared
Happy that my hometown of Louisville, KY is partially finished with building
out a ~110 mile bike (and walking) loop that circles the city by connecting
existing parks and creating new ones. I can't think of anywhere else in the US
where a cyclist could a century ride without having to deal with automobiles.

It's called the Louisville Loop.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Parks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Parks)

~~~
baddox
> I can't think of anywhere else in the US where a cyclist could a century
> ride without having to deal with automobiles.

I assume you mean in or near cities. There are several long-distance bike-only
trails (that I know of) in the US, but they tend to be in protected nature
areas.

~~~
dalke
The 185 mile long Chesapeake & Ohio Canal bike path connects to the 150 Great
Allegheny Passage bike path, giving a 335 mile long bike-only trail between
D.C. and Pittsburgh.

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bluthru
Here's a related article on how highways and the auto industry gutted many
American cities:

[http://www.vox.com/2015/5/14/8605917/highways-interstate-
cit...](http://www.vox.com/2015/5/14/8605917/highways-interstate-cities-
history)

~~~
refurb
Wow. That seems like an utterly one-sided and simplified explanation of how we
got our highway system.

The article is telling me that the auto industry hoodwinked the government
into building a multi-trillion dollar highways system (in today's dollars)
just to support the auto industry?

I think the situation might be a tad more complex than that.

~~~
douche
The interstate highway system was basically designed to facilitate the
movement of nuclear bombs to SAC bases and missile facilities. Why are the
highway overpass heights standardized?[1]

[1] [http://scm.ncsu.edu/scm-articles/article/a-brief-history-
of-...](http://scm.ncsu.edu/scm-articles/article/a-brief-history-of-the-
highway-transportation-system-in-the-u.s)

~~~
dalke
Your text here and the link you gave don't say the same thing.

As
[http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/interstatemyths.cfm#quest...](http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/interstatemyths.cfm#question3)
comments, the interstate highway system was primarily civilian in naure. It
was not "basically designed to facilitate the movement of nuclear bombs to SAC
bases and missile facilities".

The link you gave says, "Besides the obvious economic reasons, one of
Eisenhower’s goals was to improve national security". That does not imply that
Eisenhower’s main goal was related to nuclear weapon transport, only that
national security was one of multiple factors.

In any case, this sounds like an urban legend. Indeed, at Straight Dope's
comment board, some people tried to investigate it, at
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-2955...](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-295584.html)
. The military needs to transport many things, including tanks. What evidence
is there that missile specifically drove the need, vs. more general military
transport requirements?

I say "missiles" because the SAC connection doesn't make sense. The size of
nuclear weapons or their transport systems can't be the deciding factor. The
Mark 6 nuclear bomb, at
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_6_nuclear_bomb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_6_nuclear_bomb)
, was the main nuclear weapon in the early-1950s. It was much smaller than a
tank, and shorter than most people. The Mark 17 and Mark 24, which were
thermonuclear, were a bit bigger, but still less than two meters tall. See
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_17_nuclear_bomb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_17_nuclear_bomb)
. The next generation of nuclear weapons were smaller still. By 1960 we had
the W47, which was 18 inches/460 mm in diameter and 47 inches / 1,200 mm long.

The first US nuclear ballistic missile was the Atlas, first launched in 1957
and planning started in 1954. Construction for the interstate system was
authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956. It is possible, timing-
wise, that the needs for the Atlas drove the size requirement for the US
highway system. But it's tight, and it sounds unlikely.

To check, we see from
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t1UWMiWQ2E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t1UWMiWQ2E)
that the Atlas was transported by truck. The best shot starts at 6:10. It does
not look like it's especially large, or that the trailer was designed in order
to fit into difficult space constraints. See also the images at
[http://www.siloworld.net/CONST/Atlas/ATE/567th/Museum/page__...](http://www.siloworld.net/CONST/Atlas/ATE/567th/Museum/page__3.htm)
.

For what it's worth, this image of a Minute Man II on transporter,
[http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/mimi/images/fig1...](http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/mimi/images/fig13.jpg)
, implies that it needs no more than 5 meters of clearance. The interstate
system requires that a minimum of 4.9 m clearance (except in urban areas when
there is an alternate interstate around the area), so it certainly seems like
the Minute Man transporter was designed for the highway system. It's not clear
that the highway system was designed for the needs of the missile system.

There are many urban legends about the US highway system, such as the false
belief that it was designed as an alternative landing strip for SAC bombers.
This means there's a higher evidentiary standard than normal for statements
like yours.

------
muddyrivers
It reminds me of the bike-only lanes in China before. There were also blocks
between bike lanes and car lanes in the cities. So it was very safe for
cyclists.

Once I biked 2.5 hours from the northwest corner of Beijing to Tong Qian, a
small town at the east outskirt of Beijing, to visit a friend. She already
left due to some urgent matter before I got there. She couldn't contact me
because mobile phones were a rarity at that time. So I biked another 2.5 hour
back. It was a good trip, though, biking under nice weather, with warm breeze.

~~~
pimlottc
There's still plenty of bike lanes in China. Except they are also scooter
lanes, motorcycle lanes, pedestrian lanes, parking lanes...

------
npkarnik
Similar concept relating to how cars were normalized and displaced
pedestrians:
[http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26073797](http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26073797)

------
jetbeau
Really simple way especially in Australia to solve the lack of bike friendly
roads.

BUILD BIKE LANES NEXT TO RAIL ROADS!!!!

------
quantisan
I was cycling between Delft and The Hague in the Netherlands yesterday. I
headed out without a route planned. The infrastructure even outside of major
cities in the Netherlands are just so extensive that with the help of some
occasional road signs, I was able to make it there.

~~~
makeitsuckless
It does help that the space between Delft and The Hague is literally the size
of a golf course.

As a kid I used to bike from the South West of The Hague to the center of
Rotterdam. It's basically just one big urban area with some big parks.

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mc32
So the iron horse replaced the horse and the auto replaced the bike? I wonder
how many miles of horse roads they had before bikes became to be the preferred
toy of the rich in LA back at the turn of the xix century.

------
mjpuser
This reminded me of the tour de france...
[http://ink361.com/app/users/ig-%20225515122/mikaeellewis/pho...](http://ink361.com/app/users/ig-%20225515122/mikaeellewis/photos/ig-992240950698962287_225515122)

------
winslow
That isn't snow in the picture is it? Just black and white photo making
sand/light dirt look like snow?

~~~
leepowers
It's crushed limestone, which was originally used instead of asphalt to line
the bike path.

------
staunch
In a few years when all the cars are computer controlled it should be possible
to ride your bicycle like a total madman and not get hit. Even if the
computers have to slow down to 10mph while bikes are near it won't be too
annoying for passengers lost in VR. Dynamic bicycle only highways would be
easy, but even better is not needing them. Going to be fun!

~~~
krapp
Unless those cars will also come with inertial dampers, that would still be
pretty dangerous.

~~~
staunch
Or fancy adult car seats :P

~~~
krapp
Still a danger for the biker. Autonomous highway traffic isn't likely to be
allowed to travel ~10mph everywhere just in case a pedestrian or bicycle
happens to be nearby, that just wouldn't be feasible. Creating unpredictable
hazards for vehicles that can't stop on a dime isn't a good idea, be they
human controlled or computer controlled.

~~~
staunch
All the cars are cooperating. Sensors everywhere. The position of every moving
object on the road is tracked to within a meter. Any car that enters the
bicycle's safety zone gradually slows down to 10mph long before there's any
chance of contact. It would probably cause a very minor delay for cars, and
none in cases where the cars can route around the bicycle. Or whatever...
There are probably a thousand safe ways to make it so bicycles can go nuts in
a world with 100% computer controlled cars.

~~~
krapp
That describes a perfect system in which visibility is always optimal, and
there is never any such thing as inclement weather, network delays, mechanical
failure, proprietary software, manufacturers cutting corners, blind spots or
false echoes or any of the thousands of ways things can also go _wrong_ with a
system as large, complex and interconnected as that might be.

Sort of like the way "cyberspace" was described in sci-fi as sort of like
virtual reality or augmented reality or Project Xanadu, while in practice what
we got is is a document layout format with a half-assed Scheme tacked on to
spite Microsoft, what gets implemented is usually always the minimum viable
product.

~~~
staunch
I don't think you're paying attention! Many millions of us have been
interacting in 3d combat/flight/driving simulators for years. With < 20ms
internet latency and high frame rates it's a pretty amazing experience. We
call them 'video games' like they're similar to what NES games were like, but
they're everything people dreamed of for VR. Now we have head mounted
displays, completing the picture.

