Which Came First, the Car or the Road?

Again, Althouse had an interesting post this morning: “The bicycle, quite literally, paved the road for automobiles." and I left a longish post there and I felt I had to expand a little more on here.

Sorry, but I have to believe its bunk.

Roads were paved in the cities well before 1860, and unpaved in some parts of the countryside well into the 1920's.

It wasn't paved roads that favored the internal combustion engine, it was its practicality.

Have you ever lit a steam boiler? Here is Jay Leno, lighting his 1909 Stanley Steamer.

In the same era with a gas car it was set the spark, twist the crank and head to town. 20 seconds, not 20 minutes. Here is Jay Leno again, cranking his 1913 Mercer .

Electrics were also limited; again, here is Jay with his 1909 Baker Electric.

If you haven’t ever visited Jay Leno’s garage, it is an incredible collection of automotive history. And, unlike a museum, Jay drives his cars, and takes you along in the videos. To me, there is nothing better than hearing the sound of these old beasts. But, I digress.

Again, it wasn't roads that killed the electric car, it was the deficiencies of the electric compared with the gas; the same issues electric cars have 100 years later.

Issues such as battery life, poor range, long recharge times and disposal of dead batteries.

I'll agree that the bicyclist did much to get roads paved in the 1880's and '90's, but that paving had nothing to do with the rise of the gas automobile.

In 1920 there were less than 400,000 miles of paved road in this country. That may sound like a lot, but today we have 5.7 million miles; 14 times as much. In 1930 it was not possible to drive from New York to Los Angeles without leaving the paved road, and that was basically 30 years after the automobile and 50 years after the bike.

I will say this though. bicycling through the countryside did lead to an urge to travel, and the motorcar allowed you to travel farther, use less energy and take along more luggage and more family, so the bicyclist themselves probably had a lot to do with rise of the gas automobile.