An interesting new book arrived on my desk: “Roads Were Not Built For Cars”, published by Island Press and authored by Carlton Reid. He details the history which I have known in general terms, which is that the early roads in the late 19th century were built primarily for and because of the lobbying efforts of bicyclists, which had grown dramatically in number and influence in that era. The book is a comeback to those who say that roads were made for cars, and that cyclists and pedestrians should depart from them.
The history I have cited in my talks and my books is that the League of American Wheelmen lobbied for the feds to get involved in road construction. This resulted in the creation of the Agency of Public Roads under the Federal Agricultural Department in the 1880s. This little agency grew into the Bureau of Public Roads, which eventually grew into the Federal Highway Administration, and the Federal Transportation Department. So the old bicyclists can take credit for planting a fertile seed.
Carlton Reid goes into this history as well as much, much more. Reid tells of how some of the early early auto inventors, like Henry Ford, were big cyclists, and their time on two wheels influenced their car designs and plans. Reid talks of how the earliest roads were constructed for foot traffic, of course, and of some rather large early battles between drivers and other traffic, like cyclists, pedestrians and animal-powered vehicles, that are now mostly forgotten but were big deals in their day. The book has a ton of really nice illustrations and reprints of old posters. The Ipad edition has hundreds of additional illustrations which I bet are really cool.
You can find out more about the book and get info about the digital editions here: http://www.roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com/