Now little known or remembered, the Good Roads Movement was a powerful force on the American political landscape between the late 1870s and the 1920s.
Groups, led mainly by cyclists, advocating for better roads became a nationwide political movement.
At the time, roads outside of metropolitan areas consisted of dirt or gravel. This became mud or worse in inclement weather.
Until the 1930s, asphalt surfaces were not widespread.
Such surfaces were, according to the British daily the Guardian, "first lobbied for – and paid for – by cycling organisations." Thus, the genesis of today's smooth roads is thanks to bicyclists.
"In the UK and the US, cyclists lobbied for better road surfaces for a full 30 years before motoring organisations did the same. Cyclists were ahead of their time."
When trains took off in the 1840s, the old coach trade vanished. This left roads unused and often unrepaired.
Several decades later, cyclists were the first vehicles in a generation to make long journeys along these abandoned roadways.
The main goal of the Good Roads Movement in its early years was road building in rural areas - and to help rural people attain the social and economic benefits enjoyed by urban dwellers who benefited from railroads, trolleys, and paved streets.
The Movement was officially founded in May 1880, in Newport, Rhode Island. There the League of American Wheelmen called for more use of bicycles - and entered the political fray.
The League and its movement spread across the country, and in 1892 began to publish Good Roads Magazine. Within three years circulation had reached one million.
Conventions and public demonstrations, moreover, were held around the United States.
Support from the League for candidates for political office often became the deciding factor in elections.
In 1893, the U.S. Department of Agriculture began a thorough evaluation of existing highway systems in America.
With the advent of the automobile in the early part of the twentieth century, however, advocacy came to be led by the car industry. By the 1920s, a national highway building campaign was underway.
By the 1930s, smooth asphalt roads crisscrossed the United States.
The "Father of Good Roads" Horatio Earle wrote in his 1929 autobiography: "I often hear now-a-days, the automobile instigated good roads; that the automobile is the parent of good roads. Well, the truth is, the bicycle is the father of the good roads movement in this country...The League fought for the privilege of building bicycle paths along the side of public highways...The League fought for equal privileges with horse-drawn vehicles. All these battles were won and the bicyclist was accorded equal rights with other users of highways and streets."
Amen.
Something to remember the next time someone in a car cuts you off.
© CycleKyoto.com
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