In 1897, a Bicycle Superhighway Was the Future of California Transit [@motherboard]

Image: Wikimedia Commons

In 1897, a wealthy American businessman named Horace Dobbins began construction on a private, for-profit bicycle superhighway that would stretch from Pasadena to downtown Los Angeles. It may seem like a preposterous notion now—everyone knows Angelenos don't get out of their cars—but at the time, amidst the height of a pre-automobile worldwide cycling boom, the idea attracted the attention of some hugely powerful players. And it almost got built.

Dobbins was able to win the support of an ex-governor of California, who in turn strong-armed a nay-saying legislature to get the bike highway approved. It was officially dubbed the California Cycleway. Here's a Google Map of its intended route:

Read more: http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/in-1897-a-bicycle-superhighway-was-the-future-of-california-transit#ixzz2SNHhQR86
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