It doesn’t require unusual powers of observation to note that cycle tracks didn’t catch on in the United States in the wake of the 1974 Bike Guide. There’s no single explanation for this, but one powerful influence was undoubtedly the rise of an ideology commonly called "vehicular cycling". Based on principles set forth by a California man named John Forester, vehicular cycling was a movement that mounted fierce opposition to cycle tracks and virtually any other form of bicycle-specific infrastructure. There’s a lot of history that we can’t cover here, but I’ll try to be fair in summarizing the essence of the vehicular cycling movement:

Building bicycle facilities as part of the roadway effectively redefines bicyclists as obstacles to be removed from motor vehicle traffic. (Of note, some jurisdictions had laws on the books forcing bicyclists to use bicycle facilities if they existed.) Dedicated bicycle facilities are unsafe. Dedicated facilities, especially those designed to accommodate children or inexperienced bicyclists, create a public perception that bicycles are not a serious form of transportation. Furthermore, their design often hinders travel for more experienced bicyclists who prefer faster speeds.

Mr. Forester was a tireless champion of these ideals. He and other like-minded advocates used their positions within advocacy organizations (as well as within local, state, and federal institutions) to undermine the guidelines of the 1974 Bike Guide. They found a receptive audience among traffic engineers and officials, many of whom were wary of expending resources to build high quality bike infrastructure.



So when AASHTO published an updated Bike Guide in 1981 it looked very different from the 1974 document. Not only were cycle tracks dropped as a recommended facility, but they had actually been prohibited!

There have been (and continue to be) bitter disagreements between vehicular cyclists and other bike advocates over dedicated bike facilities, especially cycle tracks. Improved safety research and a slew of highly successful cycle track installations around the country have done much to turn the tide in favor of dedicated facilities.

#SlowTheCars

For our purposes, it doesn’t actually matter whether the claims made by vehicular cyclists are true. What interests me is what these differing opinions reveal about the overall state of confusion around public rights of way.

In a certain sense, vehicular cyclists have a point. The idea of streets as the sole province of motor vehicles is relatively new to human experience. Prior to the rise of the automobile, streets functioned more like public parks than the noxious, dangerous places they are today. It would have been shocking to suggest to your great-great-grandparents that streets were the sole province of the almighty automobile. In that sense, cycle tracks and other bicycle-specific facilities are a capitulation to the idea that streets are for cars except in isolated locations where other users are granted explicit access.

On the other hand, the presence of motor vehicles represents a clear hazard to the health and safety of other road users not likewise enclosed in the giant metal boxes we call cars. If the purpose of a road is to facilitate movement, there’s a certain logic to dividing road users into like groups and treating them differently.

As with so many issues our cities face, the opposing sides appear to be fighting over the answers to the wrong question. If we start from the premise that the purpose of the public right of way is to provide fast, unimpeded movement through a neighborhood or city while also unlocking development potential on the land around it — the way we think of it under our the Growth Ponzi scheme mentality — the dispute makes sense. However, if we reframe our thinking to focus on city streets as platforms for building wealth we can have an entirely different conversation.

A Strong Town might use cycle tracks as part of a safe and connected bike network, but it will have first carefully considered how to employ public right of way in a way that adds value to the land around it. In other words, a Strong Town would ask: is this a street or a road? It is our inability to adequately define the core purpose of the public right of way that has led to the disastrous state of bicycling in the United States today.

In light of this, I propose the following heuristics: