Bike Battles: A History of Sharing The American Road
Bike Battles: A History of Sharing The American Road
Bike Battles: A History of Sharing The American Road
BATTLES
A H I S T O RY O F S H A R I N G
THE AMERICAN ROAD
JA M ES LO N G H U R ST
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
BIKE
BATTLES
1/29/15 11:16 AM
es
s
Pr
to
n
ng
hi
as
W
of
ity
rs
ve
ni
U
F.Longhurst, Bike Battles.indd 2
1/29/15 11:16 AM
es
s
BIKE
BATTLES
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
A H I S T O RY O F S H A R I N G
THE AMERICAN ROAD
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
JA M ES LO N G H U R ST
U N I V E R S I T Y O F WA S H I N G T O N P R E S S
1/29/15 11:16 AM
es
s
to
n
Pr
ng
18 17 16 15 5 4 3 2 1
of
as
hi
ve
rs
ity
ni
1/29/15 11:16 AM
es
s
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
1/29/15 11:16 AM
es
s
Pr
to
n
ng
hi
as
W
of
ity
rs
ve
ni
U
F.Longhurst, Bike Battles.indd 6
1/29/15 11:16 AM
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
to
n
Pr
es
s
Preface ix
ng
hi
of
as
in America, 18701900
ity
rs
ni
ve
1/29/15 11:16 AM
5. 1950s SYNDROME
Excluding Bikes from Suburban Streets,
Interstate Highways, and Adult Lives
152
6. BIKES ARE BEAUTIFUL
The Bike Boom, Bikeways, and the Battle over
Where to Ride in the 1970s
186
to
n
Pr
229
es
s
CONCLUSION
The Road as a Commons
ng
Acknowledgments 243
as
hi
Abbreviations 247
of
Notes 249
Index 283
ni
ve
rs
ity
1/29/15 11:16 AM
PREFACE
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
1/29/15 11:16 AM
x PREFACE
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
1/29/15 11:16 AM
PREFACE xi
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
1/29/15 11:16 AM
es
s
Pr
to
n
ng
hi
as
W
of
ity
rs
ve
ni
U
F.Longhurst, Bike Battles.indd 12
1/29/15 11:16 AM
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
BIKE
BATTLES
1/29/15 11:16 AM
es
s
Pr
to
n
ng
hi
as
W
of
ity
rs
ve
ni
U
F.Longhurst, Bike Battles.indd 2
1/29/15 11:16 AM
Pr
es
s
INTRODUCTION
to
n
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
1/29/15 11:16 AM
4 INTRODUCTION
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
1/29/15 11:16 AM
INTRODUCTION 5
to
n
Pr
es
s
hi
ng
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
The modern U.S. city is clearly made for the automobile: it features
lanes marked for the width of cars, signals and signage to manage
their movement, vast parking areas for their storage, and massive
networks of raised or controlled roads to accommodate their
speed and weight. All of these are supported by agencies, political
constituencies, and funding streams dedicated to automotive
needs. Bicycles, on the other hand, move on streets that most often
lack designated space for their use. They inhabit an undefined space
trapped between the travel lane on one sidefilled with fast vehicles whose drivers are impatient with anything impeding their
movementand parked cars on the other, sometimes occupied by
oblivious drivers waiting to throw open their doors in the cyclists
path. Few agencies of government take responsibility for managing and encouraging cycling, and those that do typically lack the
resources to do it effectively. Signaling technology at intersections,
for example, detects autos but often ignores bikes. Major highways
or thoroughfares physically block walkers and bikers from crossing, segregating the city and in some places making cars essential
1/29/15 11:16 AM
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
6 INTRODUCTION
ni
ve
rs
ity
1/29/15 11:16 AM
INTRODUCTION 7
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
is in command of immense energy, measured in hundreds of footpounds of torque and horsepower, and cocooned in state-of-the-art
safety devices. I am in command of twenty pounds of aluminum,
protected by ten ounces of Styrofoam on my head and a blinky
light. The drivers knowledge and skill has been at least perfunctorily examined and certified by the state, and the motor vehicle is
registered and taxed. I have no license or registration on my person; state law and municipal ordinance allow me to ride on the
street, but my riding skill and the mechanical fitness of my vehicle
have not been verified, and I have not paid a fee to register my bike
with any government agency.
As we eye each other, the driver might be warily thinking: is this
one of those crazy bikers who will cut across lanes without signaling, swerve into the road from the sidewalk, roll through the stop
sign entirely, ride the wrong way, or even just fall over in the middle
of the road? On my part, I worry that the driver might be texting,
drinking coffee, fiddling with the radio, or all three. He (or she)
might be so insulated from the outside world that he will not see me
until after I am wrapped around his rear axle. At some level, we are
both wondering who has the right of way here: yes, theres an established law for four-way-stops, but we both know that neither drivers
nor cyclists always follow the law. Even that law privileges the car:
coming to a full stop is safe for the four-wheeled car, but stopping
is actually the most dangerous maneuver for the rider of the bike,
which depends on forward motion to balance and is at its most wobbly when starting from a full stop. As a bicyclist, I might be confusing to the driver, inhabiting some sort of imaginary lane, to the right
of the real travel lane for cars but to the left of parked vehicles,
and occasionally laying claim to the entire lane through sheer
chutzpah. Well-intentioned drivers might wave me through when
they have the right of way, implying that my bike is not a vehicle of
equal standing with theirs and confusing other vehicle operators
who didnt see the interaction. Less well-intentioned drivers might
not believe I have any right to travel on the road at all, instead urging me onto the sidewalk with a profanity or a bumper.
If theres an incident, were both thinking, who will be to blame?
1/29/15 11:16 AM
8 INTRODUCTION
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
What is the cultural value placed on each of us? Will society, insurance adjusters, police officers, or a jury of our peers side with the
cyclist or the car driver? Are cyclists unwanted and dangerous
trespassers on the roads, their ranks populated by latte-swilling
elites with leisure time? Or are they invisible bikers, people from
poor urban neighborhoods living without cars who should be banished from the paths of more successful and productive members
of society? Or are selfish drivers morally culpable before they leave
their driveway, threatening the lives, health, and futures of the rest
of society with their internal combustion engines and wanton
waste of resources? The law recognizes the rights of the bicyclist,
but Newtonian physics, Americas car culture, and the physical
design of the roads clearly favor the automobile driver.
If I make it to work unscathed, I have the privilege of teaching
the history of environmental policy to college students. Those who
sign up for classes on these topics are often impassioned and sustainability-minded twentysomethings, and they impatiently ask
why it is so difficult to take action on pressing environmental
issues, especially when the solutions seem obvious and rational to
the millennial generation. To an outsider, it might appear that my
role in these classes is to crush my students hopes and dreams,
which certainly wasnt my goal when I entered the profession. But
whether the students are concerned about pollution, climate, logging, or wildlife, my answers are similar. Legal and political
assumptions about property, citizenship, and the proper roles of
government predate current environmental concerns, constraining our present-day decisions. In the United States, many of these
issues fall into legal space contested by the individual states and
the federal government. Wide differences in state laws further
complicate consistent, reasoned action. As my favorite textbook
points out, environmental policy making combines all of these
well-known difficulties and then adds additional complexity: conflicting core values, a tendency to overuse limited resources, predictions clouded by scientific or medical uncertainty, and the
possibility of irrevocably damaging the planet.2
Like the political struggles over preserving wilderness, con-
1/29/15 11:16 AM
INTRODUCTION 9
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
1/29/15 11:16 AM
10 INTRODUCTION
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
1/29/15 11:16 AM
INTRODUCTION 11
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
1/29/15 11:16 AM
12 INTRODUCTION
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
While much of the philosophy of the public road had evolved before
the modern nation-state came into being, examining bike battles
means paying attention to communal action as transmitted
through the mechanisms of the state. In general, I refer to this communal action as policy, by which I mean the deliberations, decisions, and actions of government in pursuit of a shared goal or
public good. Politicsor the rhetoric and mechanisms by which
groups and individuals come to powershape the policy decisions
that are made, but I distinguish between politics and policy (what
those actors actually do when they get there).
While many forces have shaped bicycle policy, one of the most
important has been shifting cultural perspectives over time. The
meaning of the bicycle, points out the cultural anthropologist Luis
Vivanco, is closely related to the when of a bicycle, that is, its historical period and the diverse social and technical factors that influenced the shape and qualities of the object.12 Thus, along with all
of the other ways to consider a bicycle (as a commodity, as transportation, as a technology, or as a material object), we should think
very hard about the various ways that people have considered the
physical object. Is it a childs toy or a technological marvel? A nuisance to be discouraged or a solution to crisis? The fad of an elite
or a marker of poverty? From the perspective of policy analysis,
this cultural background might either be described as valuesthe
fundamental, frequently clashing philosophies of different groups
that complicate the ability to agree on communal actionor
framingthe fluctuating rhetoric and assumptions of media that
shape specific episodes of policy decision making.
Popular perception should not, of course, be understood as the
sole factor determining the success of one type of transportation.
1/29/15 11:16 AM
INTRODUCTION 13
It is sloppy history to claim that Americans travel nearly exclusively by personal automobile simply out of love of metal boxes.
Instead, policy and perception should be understood as exerting
mutual influences. Many other forces shape how people encounter
and experience a transportation technology and whether one system will prevail over another. So, although this book considers
popular perceptions of bicycles and their riders, its main focus is
on selected public debates over government action that have influenced practical bicycling in American cities. These are what I call
bike battles.
es
s
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
1/29/15 11:16 AM
14 INTRODUCTION
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
1/29/15 11:16 AM
INTRODUCTION 15
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
and national lobbying groups like People for Bikes, the Alliance for
Biking and Walking, and the Green Lane Project, as well as countless local advocacy groups.
Scholars and academics are just as interested. In One Less Car,
Zach Furness provides a cultural analysis of how support for
bicycle transportation is growing in the United States. In Street
Fight, Jason Henderson examines the tumultuous politics and ideologies of bicycling in San Francisco. The urban planners and
scholars brought together by John Pucher and Ralph Buehler in
City Cycling document a booming interest in cycling around the
world. Together, they have persuasively labeled the boom a North
American bicycling renaissance.19
But the boom is not without its problems. As Mapes puts it,
bicycling, once largely seen as a simple pleasure from childhood,
has become a political act. For some drivers and pedestrians,
bikes have always represented a threat, moving either too slowly
or too quickly to be trusted, and the bike boom has resulted in a
surprisingly angry response, sometimes termed the bikelash. On
Staten Island, introduction of bike lanes led to a number of roadrage incidents in 2009 and what city council members described as
a wild, wild West atmosphere. In Texas, the death of an off-duty
Lubbock police officer on a bike led one letter writer to encourage
Americans to join together and remove these bicycle riders from
all roadways and avoid further tragedies. In some cases, these
attitudes have led to new legal restrictions on bicycling: bicyclists
attempting to pass through Black Hawk, Colorado, were banned
from city streets in 2010, and the case went all the way to the state
Supreme Court.20
Bicycles have also become a topic of congressional debate.
After Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood promoted bicycling
in 2010, Republican House members suggested LaHood was on
drugs, dismissed the very idea of bike lanes and derided any
change to a car-dependent society, according to press coverage.
Rep. Steven LaTourette of Ohio was reported as suggesting that
environmental sustainability and bicycle projects had stolen $300
million from highway programs, while Rep. Tom Latham of Iowa
1/29/15 11:16 AM
16 INTRODUCTION
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
incorrectly claimed that each new biker was one less person paying into the transportation trust fund and that cycling should therefore be discouraged. Such bikelash triggers further arguments;
LaTourette later objected to the media coverage as scurrilous,
saying, I have to go home over the recess and meet with a lot of
people in spandex pants and tell them that I was not serious. 21
In cities, the addition of bike lanes to existing roads has
divided the public. Low points of the debate include accusations
that the former New York City transportation commissioner
Janette Sadik-Khan was carrying water for an invasion of socialistleaning, Eurocentric, limp-wristed Lycra warriors. 22 New York
Post columnists (when not otherwise engaged in wholesale character assassination of Sadik-Khan) proclaimed a Bike Lane
Bloodbath, claiming that with the institution of a bike-share program, City Hall is about to flood the streets with 10,000 more
weapons of pedestrian destruction. One outspoken opponent of
these developmentsironically, a former bike-shop ownerdecried
plans to increase city cycling, declaring that the level of emotional
and psychological damage wrought by the bicycle . . . is homegrown terrorism. The cumulative effect is equivalent to what
happened on 9/11. New Yorks 2013 mayoral race hinged at least
partially on cycling issues, with candidates required to voice their
opinion on outgoing mayor Michael Bloombergs support for bike
lanes, the bike-share program, Sadik-Khan, and the closure of parts
of Times Square to automobile traffic. Bill de Blasio Wins the Bike
Vote, declared the New York Daily News, heralding the arrival of
what is now jokingly called the bike lobbya force not meaningfully felt in American politics for more than a century, and with
uncertain power today.23
The conflict is not limited to New York City. A Washington, DC,
columnist opined that its a $500 fine for a motorist to hit a bicyclist in the District, but some behaviors are so egregious that some
drivers might think its worth paying. In Philadelphia, the veteran
columnist Stu Bykofsky railed against bicyclists scofflaw behavior. One 2013 column featured this doggerel, written from the point
of view of those he calls bikeheads:
1/29/15 11:16 AM
INTRODUCTION 17
I think that I shall never like
Anything as much as my bike.
A bike that makes me feel so free,
Because the laws dont apply to me.
I go through lights of red, youve seen,
It doesnt matter cause Im green.
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
Not all the criticism of bikers came from outside the cycling community. Protesting riders in Chicago streets prompted one experienced but angry cyclist to ask if it was Revolution? Anarchy?
State-sponsored terrorism? No, its just another Critical Mass in
Chicago, allowing anyone with a bicycle to flout the law. 24
The bike battles of the twenty-first century serve as proxies
for other ideological fights. Particularly in America, the bicycle
is emerging as a new conservative front in the culture wars,
observed the Boston Globe in 2013. The humorist P. J. ORourke
argues that bike lanes violate a fundamental principle of democracy. When all are forced to support a fibrosis of bicycle lanes...
spreading through the cities of the world... so that an affluent elite
can feel good about itself in its sanctimonious pedal-pushing,
ORourke sees communist totalitarianism. Similarly, an editor at the
conservative Weekly Standard warned drivers that what is going
on is the attempt of an organized private interest to claim a public
good, stealing from drivers what was intended solely for their use.
He argued further that the bicycle agenda is coming to resemble the
feminist agenda from the 1970s, when previously all male Universities went coed. Everything that was ever off limits to the aggrieved
minority must be opened up, even while new funds and existing
facilities are still reserved for the minority groups sole use. Some
ultraconservatives fear that bicycle and pedestrian promotion is
the first step in an insidious United Nations plot to undermine
American sovereignty and establish a one-world government.25
New York Citys bike-share program, introduced in the summer
of 2013, is an excellent example of how the bike battles are often
political debates clad in Lycra. The Wall Street Journal raged not
only against the bicycles (and the encroachment of bike-share
stations on sidewalks) but also against the power of a mayor
1/29/15 11:16 AM
18 INTRODUCTION
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
1/29/15 11:16 AM
INTRODUCTION 19
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
1/29/15 11:16 AM
20 INTRODUCTION
A NEW HOPE
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
1/29/15 11:16 AM
INTRODUCTION 21
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
as
hi
ng
to
n
Pr
es
s
1/29/15 11:16 AM