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Roads Were Not Built for Cars: How Cyclists Were the First to Push for Good Roads & Became the Pioneers of Motoring
Motorists are the johnny-come-latelies of highway history. The coming of the railways in the 1830s killed off the stage-coach trade; almost all rural roads reverted to low-level local use. Cyclists were the first group in a generation to use roads and were the first to push for high-quality sealed surfaces and were the first to lobby for national funding and leadership for roads.
Without cyclists, motorists wouldn't have hit the ground running when it came to places to drive this new form of transport.
'Roads Were Not Built for Cars' is a history book, focussing on a time when cyclists had political clout, in Britain and especially in America. The book researches the Road Improvements Association - a lobbying group created by the Cyclists' Touring Club in the 1880s - and the Good Roads movement organised by the League of American Wheelmen in the same period.
Without cyclists, motorists wouldn't have hit the ground running when it came to places to drive this new form of transport.
'Roads Were Not Built for Cars' is a history book, focussing on a time when cyclists had political clout, in Britain and especially in America. The book researches the Road Improvements Association - a lobbying group created by the Cyclists' Touring Club in the 1880s - and the Good Roads movement organised by the League of American Wheelmen in the same period.
360 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
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November 2, 2015
Because a couple of idiots have decided to rate this book 1-star – before it's even been published – I'm rating it 5-stars (for now) until I receive my copy.
December 27, 2021
I think this book does suffer slightly from the researcher's curse of wanting to include every tangential detail discovered among the way (and the epilogue is definitely for reference only; the first time I read the book, having contributed a sizeable sum towards the original Kickstarter campaign that funded it, I diligently read every single biography, but this time through I simply skimmed that chapter). But by and large most of that detail is in fact fascinating stuff.
Initially I felt that the lengthy chapters on American politics and road-building (the USA had nothing like the long-established, well surfaced turnpike road network in England, and the maintenance of such roads as there were was up to the farmers through whose fields they passed, and who did not see why they should put in a lot of work for the benefit of townsfolk out for a pleasure jaunt) were very peripheral to what had presented itself as an English book by an English journalist about English roads - the majority of which do predate the motor car by hundreds of years. But Carlton Reid managed to get me interested in the doings of the League of American Wheelmen and their doings.
The 'wheel', in those days, was the popular term used by riders for the bicycle itself, being the predominant feature of the 'high-wheeler' ('penny-farthing' apparently being a later nickname rather than the contemporary term; after the advent of the small-wheeled 'safety' bicycle, the big fast machines were known as 'ordinaries', since they had always been the default, with the newcomers being decidedly un-ordinary!) The book is full of such fascinating cultural tidbits, such as the revelation that, far from having been cramped mediaeval thoroughfares, many of the wide main streets in English cities date back centuries, and were not built that way in order to accommodate motor traffic but to beautify the city, to improve public health, and to allow for human activity (such as the ancient market in Cheapside).
It reveals a wealth of motorists' dismissive quotes about cyclists - perhaps most hostile in the 1930s, when cycling was seen as an obstacle to the inevitable "march of progress" and was expected to become as obsolete as the stagecoach, in the mean time having been relegated to the transport of the factory worker as opposed to the leisured wealthy who had been the original enthusiasts. It also reveals that as early as 1905 the pioneering motorists were beginning to regret those halcyon days of the empty road, when other cars had been few and far between; cycling had often been a group sport, with 19th century riders covering tremendous distances in their outings (and revitalising the ancient coaching inns in the process, as well as lobbying for the neglected roads of Britain to be smoothed and mended in the name of comfort - early cars wouldn't have got far on the decayed remnants of the turnpike network if it hadn't been for the cyclists agitating for long-distance roads ten or twenty years earlier). But for obvious reasons, motorists tended not to share conversations with their counterparts in the road, preferring the joy of the open highway, and the more people who started to use the roads, the less liberating the experience became.
I was continually being surprised by obvious-seeming facts that I hadn't ever considered: for example, for every mile of purpose-built 'motor road' in Britain, there are NINETY-FIVE miles of road which were originally conceived for non-motorised traffic. The high-wheelers of the 1870s were the fastest vehicles on the road (and the young men who rode them were much given to 'scorching' at top speed, despite the absence of a free-wheel for travelling down hills; the daring rider would simply take his feet off the pedals and hook them over the handlebars, in the hopes that if he fell off he might at least have a chance to land legs first!) Many famous early racing drivers, including such people as Lionel Martin of Aston Martin and Charles Rolls of Rolls-Royce, started off as successful racing cyclists in the heyday of the sport; many prominent politicians, such as Arthur Balfour, Lord Russell and the Earl of Albemarle, were enthusiastic cyclists in the late 19th century, as were Woodrow Wilson and John Jacob Astor in the USA.
All in all, though I could have done without some of the potted biographies of people who started off with a cycling connection and later became motoring pioneers (the point is made after two or three, I feel), I found the book fascinating, well-researched, and going well beyond mere polemic - though the title fact that roads were NOT built for cars should not be forgotten! I was somewhat pleasantly surprised to find that the online references (omitted from the book for reasons of space) are still available, since after the passage of years I'd rather expected the website to have become obsolete; I still don't feel that it is a very reliable longterm solution, but I can see why the author chose to do it, as the book was quite expensive enough to produce anyway. It is worth looking up the web page in question, as it contains quite a number of 'extras', including the complete lyrics of songs alluded to in the text, etc.
Initially I felt that the lengthy chapters on American politics and road-building (the USA had nothing like the long-established, well surfaced turnpike road network in England, and the maintenance of such roads as there were was up to the farmers through whose fields they passed, and who did not see why they should put in a lot of work for the benefit of townsfolk out for a pleasure jaunt) were very peripheral to what had presented itself as an English book by an English journalist about English roads - the majority of which do predate the motor car by hundreds of years. But Carlton Reid managed to get me interested in the doings of the League of American Wheelmen and their doings.
The 'wheel', in those days, was the popular term used by riders for the bicycle itself, being the predominant feature of the 'high-wheeler' ('penny-farthing' apparently being a later nickname rather than the contemporary term; after the advent of the small-wheeled 'safety' bicycle, the big fast machines were known as 'ordinaries', since they had always been the default, with the newcomers being decidedly un-ordinary!) The book is full of such fascinating cultural tidbits, such as the revelation that, far from having been cramped mediaeval thoroughfares, many of the wide main streets in English cities date back centuries, and were not built that way in order to accommodate motor traffic but to beautify the city, to improve public health, and to allow for human activity (such as the ancient market in Cheapside).
It reveals a wealth of motorists' dismissive quotes about cyclists - perhaps most hostile in the 1930s, when cycling was seen as an obstacle to the inevitable "march of progress" and was expected to become as obsolete as the stagecoach, in the mean time having been relegated to the transport of the factory worker as opposed to the leisured wealthy who had been the original enthusiasts. It also reveals that as early as 1905 the pioneering motorists were beginning to regret those halcyon days of the empty road, when other cars had been few and far between; cycling had often been a group sport, with 19th century riders covering tremendous distances in their outings (and revitalising the ancient coaching inns in the process, as well as lobbying for the neglected roads of Britain to be smoothed and mended in the name of comfort - early cars wouldn't have got far on the decayed remnants of the turnpike network if it hadn't been for the cyclists agitating for long-distance roads ten or twenty years earlier). But for obvious reasons, motorists tended not to share conversations with their counterparts in the road, preferring the joy of the open highway, and the more people who started to use the roads, the less liberating the experience became.
I was continually being surprised by obvious-seeming facts that I hadn't ever considered: for example, for every mile of purpose-built 'motor road' in Britain, there are NINETY-FIVE miles of road which were originally conceived for non-motorised traffic. The high-wheelers of the 1870s were the fastest vehicles on the road (and the young men who rode them were much given to 'scorching' at top speed, despite the absence of a free-wheel for travelling down hills; the daring rider would simply take his feet off the pedals and hook them over the handlebars, in the hopes that if he fell off he might at least have a chance to land legs first!) Many famous early racing drivers, including such people as Lionel Martin of Aston Martin and Charles Rolls of Rolls-Royce, started off as successful racing cyclists in the heyday of the sport; many prominent politicians, such as Arthur Balfour, Lord Russell and the Earl of Albemarle, were enthusiastic cyclists in the late 19th century, as were Woodrow Wilson and John Jacob Astor in the USA.
All in all, though I could have done without some of the potted biographies of people who started off with a cycling connection and later became motoring pioneers (the point is made after two or three, I feel), I found the book fascinating, well-researched, and going well beyond mere polemic - though the title fact that roads were NOT built for cars should not be forgotten! I was somewhat pleasantly surprised to find that the online references (omitted from the book for reasons of space) are still available, since after the passage of years I'd rather expected the website to have become obsolete; I still don't feel that it is a very reliable longterm solution, but I can see why the author chose to do it, as the book was quite expensive enough to produce anyway. It is worth looking up the web page in question, as it contains quite a number of 'extras', including the complete lyrics of songs alluded to in the text, etc.
March 8, 2015
“The bicycle is the father of the good roads movement in this country.”
The title, ROADS WERE NOT BUILT FOR CARS is, by the author’s own admission, an intentionally provocative title. He explains, “The title of my book is polemical, but it's also a statement of historical fact. Roads were not built for motor cars. By and large, they were built for pedestrians.”
ROADS WERE NOT BUILT FOR CARS is clearly the result of a huge amount of research. Of course, the author explains the history of road development. Along the way, however he explains things such as the derivation of motoring terms, how automobile and cycling clubs got started, the politics of roads, and the history of the great cycling and motor car manufacturers.
ROADS WERE NOT BUILT FOR CARS is far more than just a discussion of how roads originated. It's actually an expansive history of the relationship between bikes and automobiles. Like many people, I always assumed that the development of roads was entirely due to automobiles. But the author notes that “Cyclist and motorists have far more in common than many people realize.”
For example, he shows that motorcars developed more from cycling designs rather than horse drawn carriage design. Many of the bicycling designs prove to be of great value for motor cars. For example pneumatic tires was something that was developed to make bicycles more comfortable “pneumatic tires were critical to the rapid uptake of motoring, but they were not developed for motor cars - they have been introduced to make bicycles more comfortable and, critically, faster.”
The large motor car associations actually grew out of cycling associations: “Many of the officials who founded in steering the AAA, had earlier been officials in the League of American Wheelmen.”
The author documents the history of the major motor car companies - many of which grew from bicycle manufacturing companies. Of course, everyone has heard of the car brand Dodge. What I did not know was that at one point, Dodge was the second largest car brand in America after Ford. Even more surprising to me was that the Dodge Brothers had created their own bike making business in Ontario.
As another example, the Opel brothers (there were five) began making cars in 1899, but actually before that they made bicycles. Many of the company founders were in fact championship bike racers, racing on Opel bicycles. The Opel bicycling company sold a total of 3 million bikes. Later it actually became one of the top automakers in Europe.
Of particular interest to me what's the popular movement known as the “Good roads movement.” This movement was actually started and pushed by cyclists, it was only later that automobile enthusiastic it over. At the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan, the narrator on a film notes, “It might surprise you but it wasn't car owners that first amended better roads - it was bicycle riders.”
I found the chapter on the design of roads very interesting. Over the years, civil engineers figured out that the number one most critical feature of roads is drainage. The author explains that a great deal of early road design is still the state of the art today.
√ All in all, ROADS WERE NOT BUILT FOR CARS is an extensive look at the relationship between bicycles and motor cars. The author has obviously done a huge amount of research. I found the book very interesting and the history of both cycling a motorcar development a fascinating tale. The author includes an extensive bibliography as well as index. I found the early photographs and artwork very interesting. A lot of the pictures show the old fashioned bikes or tricycles with very tall wheels. As another example of the tremendous amount of research this author conducted, see Appendix A, which is an extensive history of roads timeline—starting from the Roman roads of 400 BC.
Advance copy for review courtesy of NetGalley.
The title, ROADS WERE NOT BUILT FOR CARS is, by the author’s own admission, an intentionally provocative title. He explains, “The title of my book is polemical, but it's also a statement of historical fact. Roads were not built for motor cars. By and large, they were built for pedestrians.”
ROADS WERE NOT BUILT FOR CARS is clearly the result of a huge amount of research. Of course, the author explains the history of road development. Along the way, however he explains things such as the derivation of motoring terms, how automobile and cycling clubs got started, the politics of roads, and the history of the great cycling and motor car manufacturers.
ROADS WERE NOT BUILT FOR CARS is far more than just a discussion of how roads originated. It's actually an expansive history of the relationship between bikes and automobiles. Like many people, I always assumed that the development of roads was entirely due to automobiles. But the author notes that “Cyclist and motorists have far more in common than many people realize.”
For example, he shows that motorcars developed more from cycling designs rather than horse drawn carriage design. Many of the bicycling designs prove to be of great value for motor cars. For example pneumatic tires was something that was developed to make bicycles more comfortable “pneumatic tires were critical to the rapid uptake of motoring, but they were not developed for motor cars - they have been introduced to make bicycles more comfortable and, critically, faster.”
The large motor car associations actually grew out of cycling associations: “Many of the officials who founded in steering the AAA, had earlier been officials in the League of American Wheelmen.”
The author documents the history of the major motor car companies - many of which grew from bicycle manufacturing companies. Of course, everyone has heard of the car brand Dodge. What I did not know was that at one point, Dodge was the second largest car brand in America after Ford. Even more surprising to me was that the Dodge Brothers had created their own bike making business in Ontario.
As another example, the Opel brothers (there were five) began making cars in 1899, but actually before that they made bicycles. Many of the company founders were in fact championship bike racers, racing on Opel bicycles. The Opel bicycling company sold a total of 3 million bikes. Later it actually became one of the top automakers in Europe.
Of particular interest to me what's the popular movement known as the “Good roads movement.” This movement was actually started and pushed by cyclists, it was only later that automobile enthusiastic it over. At the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan, the narrator on a film notes, “It might surprise you but it wasn't car owners that first amended better roads - it was bicycle riders.”
I found the chapter on the design of roads very interesting. Over the years, civil engineers figured out that the number one most critical feature of roads is drainage. The author explains that a great deal of early road design is still the state of the art today.
√ All in all, ROADS WERE NOT BUILT FOR CARS is an extensive look at the relationship between bicycles and motor cars. The author has obviously done a huge amount of research. I found the book very interesting and the history of both cycling a motorcar development a fascinating tale. The author includes an extensive bibliography as well as index. I found the early photographs and artwork very interesting. A lot of the pictures show the old fashioned bikes or tricycles with very tall wheels. As another example of the tremendous amount of research this author conducted, see Appendix A, which is an extensive history of roads timeline—starting from the Roman roads of 400 BC.
Advance copy for review courtesy of NetGalley.
May 5, 2015
I am so easily tricked into thinking that the way things are now is the way things always have been. It's self-centred thinking, of course: My way is the way.
Roads Were Not Built For Cars gave plenty of blows against that approach, for which I am thankful.
This fascinating book gives much insight into roads, transport, and modes of transport - as well as the conflicts that arose as change occurred.
Reid writes about the United Kingdom more than any other place, the United States being a close second. Yet this focus is fine, because the UK and US patterns seem to exemplify what has been seen elsewhere.
That pattern is, in a word, domination. Motor vehicles have come to dominate transport (and transport history) in a way that unhelpfully marginalises all others.
The greatest surprise to me in this history is that roads stopped being public places. Sure, they're (mostly) not private. Yet roads used to be social places: a mixture of pedestrians, neighbours, business, conversation, play, and some transport.
Cars, though, pushed all else away - onto narrow footpaths, into the new crime of 'jaywalking', etc. A common space has been usurped for one group. And it happens again each time I'm on a bike and a driver yells at me, 'Get off the road.'
Even this famous video (https://youtu.be/IJfTa5SjDCY) of San Francisco in 1900 includes car trickery: one vehicle drives past the tramcar-mounted camera again and again, giving an inflated impression of cars on the roads.
Being freed from my own self-focus is helpful in two ways.
Firstly, it makes me watch out for the bullying inherent in power. Speed, motors, and human power tend to push others out. This can happen to me, and I can also be a perpetrator.
Secondly, it frees our minds to consider other ways of doing things. If it was not always so, then it need not always be so. I guess this idea is one of Reid's aims, since he is a promoter of cycling - a promotion I heartily endorse.
On a different level, it's clear how some grasp of history is a mighty tool. My Christian trust is in an historical faith. It matters if Jesus died and rose again, and it matters if he didn't. These are the things we need to find out. And if convinced, as I am, constant attention to the real Jesus of history is a must. If the history of roads and cycling is important - and I think it is - how much more the history of Jesus and his followers.
Roads Were Not Built For Cars gave plenty of blows against that approach, for which I am thankful.
This fascinating book gives much insight into roads, transport, and modes of transport - as well as the conflicts that arose as change occurred.
Reid writes about the United Kingdom more than any other place, the United States being a close second. Yet this focus is fine, because the UK and US patterns seem to exemplify what has been seen elsewhere.
That pattern is, in a word, domination. Motor vehicles have come to dominate transport (and transport history) in a way that unhelpfully marginalises all others.
The greatest surprise to me in this history is that roads stopped being public places. Sure, they're (mostly) not private. Yet roads used to be social places: a mixture of pedestrians, neighbours, business, conversation, play, and some transport.
Cars, though, pushed all else away - onto narrow footpaths, into the new crime of 'jaywalking', etc. A common space has been usurped for one group. And it happens again each time I'm on a bike and a driver yells at me, 'Get off the road.'
Even this famous video (https://youtu.be/IJfTa5SjDCY) of San Francisco in 1900 includes car trickery: one vehicle drives past the tramcar-mounted camera again and again, giving an inflated impression of cars on the roads.
Being freed from my own self-focus is helpful in two ways.
Firstly, it makes me watch out for the bullying inherent in power. Speed, motors, and human power tend to push others out. This can happen to me, and I can also be a perpetrator.
Secondly, it frees our minds to consider other ways of doing things. If it was not always so, then it need not always be so. I guess this idea is one of Reid's aims, since he is a promoter of cycling - a promotion I heartily endorse.
On a different level, it's clear how some grasp of history is a mighty tool. My Christian trust is in an historical faith. It matters if Jesus died and rose again, and it matters if he didn't. These are the things we need to find out. And if convinced, as I am, constant attention to the real Jesus of history is a must. If the history of roads and cycling is important - and I think it is - how much more the history of Jesus and his followers.
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December 31, 2019I have requested that Goodreads add a fourth option to the list of "to-read, currently reading, read". It could be called DNF, to allow a non-negative version of "failed to finish." Because I need it for books like this.
Very detailed; well-written; beautifully researched. But his switch from cycle to cars came early on and it turned into an endless recitation of the car manufacturing pioneers and processes. And that failed to hold my interest. Others might find it was fascinating as it probably is.
Very detailed; well-written; beautifully researched. But his switch from cycle to cars came early on and it turned into an endless recitation of the car manufacturing pioneers and processes. And that failed to hold my interest. Others might find it was fascinating as it probably is.
January 6, 2020
Excellent book. It can get dry at times (Chp 15 was about 10 times as long as I could handle) but Reid goes into excellent detail on the history of roads, and the role the bicycle and bicyclists played in building and improving our roads. Also, I was somewhat familiar with how cycling and the automobile industry we're related. This book highlights just intimate that relationship was. Reid also highlights the uphill battle cyclists and pedestrians face in reclaiming public space for complete streets. I recommend this book to everybody that walks, drives, or rides.
October 20, 2017
The real history of modern roads. Detailed and interesting.
June 30, 2019
Great stuff. The illustrations alone are worth the price of admission.
August 25, 2022
Incredible amount of information, with only a few minor mistakes regarding former bicycle racers/races. It's a very long read though.
January 8, 2017
The title of this book, by the authors admission, is deliberately provocative. That said it's not an attack on motorists or an effort to claim that non motorists are holier than thou. The book is a thoroughly researched account of how we came to have such a well engineered network of roads (yes, seriously we do have well engineered roads).
Carltons account covers not only the development of roads but also the traffic that uses them, how innovations in cycling such as pneumatic tyres and differential gears eventually found their way into motor vehicles. he also reveals some interesting characters from the history books along the way.
Whether your pro cycling, pro car or against any form of mechanised transport this is a worthy read.
Carltons account covers not only the development of roads but also the traffic that uses them, how innovations in cycling such as pneumatic tyres and differential gears eventually found their way into motor vehicles. he also reveals some interesting characters from the history books along the way.
Whether your pro cycling, pro car or against any form of mechanised transport this is a worthy read.
March 24, 2015
Carlton Reid has done an outstanding job in researching as well as presenting how the early bicycle industry not only was instrumental in leading the way to the creation of good roads, but also in how integral that industry was to the advent of the motorcar. In just a little over 100 years, history has already distanced and even dismissed the bicycle's effect on the development of the automobile. Having been employed in the automotive industry for over 40 years now, and having enjoyed bicycling since my youth, I was not aware of all the many connections between these two industries. Thank you Carlton for detailing these relationships and for setting the historical record straight.
July 19, 2016
Was more of a collection of essays than a book , and got a bit repetitive in places. Still, it was quite interesting, and useful to remind us that the expanses of tarmac are not just for cars/vans/lorries.
I suggest you read this book also: "Traffic: Why we drive the way we do (and what it says about us)" by Tom Vanderbilt.
I suggest you read this book also: "Traffic: Why we drive the way we do (and what it says about us)" by Tom Vanderbilt.
April 11, 2016
+ Dense material well explained. My first kickstarted read. Web site Roads Were Not Built For Cars.com includes both samples and, usefully, extensive End Notes.
- Wide column of text challenged my 'speed' reading habits. The motor cycle was hardly mentioned.
- Wide column of text challenged my 'speed' reading habits. The motor cycle was hardly mentioned.
March 26, 2016
I didn't finish this one - due back at the library and it was so. damn. dense. I get it - there's lots of cool historical information about roads and bikes, but I think at times the messages of the different chapters are lost in the glut of information. Interesting topic, read the chapters you're into or skim!
September 10, 2016
As the title says - roads existed before cars, and cyclists helped improve the roads by demanding asphalt surfaces, and by developing many of the technologies that road transport depends on.
The biographies at the beginning got a bit repetitive, and the book feels like a collection of essays rather than a whole work.
The biographies at the beginning got a bit repetitive, and the book feels like a collection of essays rather than a whole work.
February 25, 2015
For petrolheads and MAMILs alike. The cycling pedigree of motoring (and it's infrastructure) is undeniable. Those who don't want to read the whole book can skip to the appendix listing the 60+ makes of car with bicycles in their DNA.
April 4, 2015
A very thorough history of cycling's pivotal role in the Good Roads movement and the development and popularisation of the motor car in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
January 4, 2015
Great historical perspective on roads, communication networks and societal views on changing modes of transportation.
October 25, 2014
Outstanding. Incredible insight and research!
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews