A new book by Carlton Reid debunks the generally held belief that road were built for cars.
It starts with the obvious point that roads pre-date cars but goes on to provide a great deal of evidence that the evolution of road in the early part of the last century into the general conditions and structure we have today owe more to cyclists than motorists.
It was cycling groups, both in the UK and the US, that lobbied hard to have road surfaces improved after years of neglect during the great boom in rail travel during the Victorian period.
A full review can be found here: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/23/roads-were-not-built-for-cars-carlton-reid-review
