Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
Streetsblog CA

Caltrans: Don’t Forget, California’s Highways Were First Built for Bicycles

"Did you know the movement to create a state highway system came not from automobile drivers or manufacturers, but bicyclists?"

As part of Caltrans' 125th Anniversary, the agency is creating a video series about the history of the state's agency. The first video highlights Caltrans' current shift away from auto-centric planning to multimodal planning by acknowledging that the push for safe bicycling in California actually predates the state's transportation agency.

In the video Caltrans director Malcolm Dougherty defends the agency's history as "trying to move people and moving goods" before getting into how exciting the new plan for multimodal planning is.

"We need to be looking at transportation a little bit differently than we did in the past. It needs to be a multimodal, integrated transportation system so that people can move around the state as efficiently as possible," says Dougherty, ending his interview.

So far, the score on the shift towards multimodalism is mixed. On one hand, Caltans' planning divisions are working to dramatically increase funding for sustainable transportation options. On the other hand, there are still some really dumb project ideas being studied...some of which have extremely awful environmental documentation.

But as we continue to monitor Caltrans' efforts to become a multimodal agency, at least they gave us a comeback to our obnoxious uncle who claims that "streets were built for cars" at Thanksgiving. Actually, they weren't...they were built for bicycles first.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

Metro 2026 World Cup Transit Plans Emerging

From June 13 to July 7, 2026, Los Angeles will host eight World Cup soccer matches, all at the SoFi Stadium in the city of Inglewood

May 9, 2025

Metro Names Bill Scott as Chief of Police

Chief Scott and Metro leadership emphasized that keeping Metro transit safe would require a multi-faceted approach that included the deployment of officers as well as collaboration with the community, ambassadors, and service providers. "Sometimes enforcement is the answer," Scott said. "Sometimes it's not."

May 7, 2025

Lyft’s Anti-Worker Anti-Transit Record Raises Red Flags For Metro Bike Share

Edwin Aviles and Kalayaan Mendoza urge Metro not to reward bad actors working to undermine workers’ rights and mass transit

See all posts