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In the 1800s, bicycles were the vehicle of choice for around town transportation. In the mid-1800s, the League of American Wheelmen (now League of American Bicyclists) pushed for roads to be paved so that cyclists and other road users could travel from town to town and from farm to market without mud and muck hindering their progress. This Good Roads Movement, founded by the League, gave birth through the years to the extensive world-class road transportation network that serves our economy and way of life today. Through time, the automobile began replacing the horse and buggy and the bicycle as a preferred mode of transport. Bicycles continued to see quite a bit of use, but mostly for local and short-distance trips.
BIKE TRAVEL IS REBORN
In the early 1970s, about the time that Bikecentennial (now known as Adventure Cycling Association) was born, the bicycle was rediscovered and people began traveling beyond their local neighborhoods to places across the country to “discover the real America.” Learn more about Bikecentennial’s history.
U.S. BIKE ROUTES
During this period, AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) became involved in the concept of developing a national bicycle route system. This seemed logical, given that AASHTO was already serving as the custodian of the U.S. and Interstate Highway route designation systems.
In 1978, AASHTO formally recognized U.S. Bicycle Routes, and in 1982, two national routes were established: U.S. Bicycle Route 1 in Virginia and North Carolina, and U.S. Bicycle Route 76 in Virginia, Kentucky, and Illinois.
Then, nothing happened.
The system lay dormant, and no other U.S. Bicycle Routes were established, even though the intervening years saw significant interest in long-distance bicycle travel and establishment of route networks by Adventure Cycling and by individual states.
THE CURRENT MOVEMENT
The current U.S. Bicycle Routes effort began in 2003 when Adventure Cycling Association contacted FHWA and AASHTO and asked for a nationally recognized U.S. Bike Route System. Since AASHTO had already established a framework and policy for such a network, it quickly became the lead organization in this effort. Read the background on the current project.
For more information,
, Adventure Cycling's new routes coordinator.
SUPPORT THE U.S. BICYCLE ROUTE SYSTEM
Help make the USBRS a reality, donate today.
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