Panelist Jim Longhurst shares insights at the Wisconsin Downtown's Summit Building Bike and Pedestrian-Friendly Communities panel in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

1. Bike History
and downtown streets as a
shared public resource
James Longhurst
Associate Professor of History
University of Wisconsin – La Crosse
Twitter: @laxbikeguy Email: jlonghurst@uwlax.edu

2. FAST Facts about UW-L and Bike Friendly Universities
Did you know . . . That for the first time ever, UWL has been named
a “Bike Friendly University” by the League of American Bicyclists, the
oldest national bicycle advocacy group in the nation? UWL is the
only institution in La Crosse to achieve this recognition, and joins
the other 4 Wisconsin colleges and universities that have previously
been named to the program, including UW Madison, UW Milwaukee,
and UW Eau Claire.
Did you know . . . by student population, UWL is the smallest UW
system school to achieve Bronze status?
Did you know . . . With the announcement of 49 new and renewing
Bike Friendly Universities today from 31 states, UWL joins a cutting-
edge group of colleges and universities across the U.S. transforming
their campuses and the communities around them? Nine of the top
10 universities ranked by US News & World Reports have been named as a Bicycle Friendly University.
There are now 127 BFUs in 42 states and Washington, D.C.
Did you know . . . that in an online UWL survey a very high
percentage reported walking (39%) or bicycling (21%) as
their primary mode of transportation. Even more indicated
that “if [they] could do things differently” they would prefer to
travel to and from campus using public transportation?
Did you know . . . more survey respondents said that they
owned a bicycle than said they owned a car?
Did you know . . . most off-campus students lived less than
a mile off campus, making a car-free lifestyle possible?
Did you know . . . 2/3 of all respondents indicated that they felt it was important or very important to have
options other than an automobile to travel to and from campus:

3. BicycleLaCrosse.com

4. Credit: Dan Novak

5. bikebattles.net
facebook.com/bikebattles
@BikeBattlesBook
bikebattlesbook@gmail.com

6. Washington
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Washington DC
Wisconsin
Minnesota

7. UW Stevens Point
UW Madison
Macalester College

8. Chicago, IL

10. Photo illustration of urban bike lane battles, New York Magazine, March 20, 2011

11. History helps us
understand
this present-day conflict
with the reminder that the
public streets have always
been shared by varied
forms of transportation.

12. European history of Roman roads;
detail from
Histoire des grands chemins de l'Empire Romain (1728)

13. Legal “Vehicles”
Through the early modern era, common law and legislation
covered many “vehicles, because the purpose of the public streets
was movement, regardless of conveyance.
Detail of “High Street, Whitechapel,” (1837)

14. Downtown San Francisco, California, 1901

15. Downtown Lansing, Michigan, with evidence of
five kinds of transportation

16. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

17. Los Angeles
freeways, 1958

18. “Complete Streets” philosophy
18

19. 19

20. Thank you.
Questions?