The City’s Great Bicycle Experiment
Walla Walla’s Bicycle Commissioner tests asphalt versus wood planks as he pushes to expand city infrastructure for wheelmen.
Bicycle Commissioner Peck set a crew of men to work at noon today extending the East Alder Street bike path from Park Street to the city limits. The new path, which will be seven blocks long, will be five feet wide and run along the south side of the street. To settle the ongoing debate regarding material, one block between Park and Crescent streets will be constructed of 2-by-6 planks. After a month of use, local cyclists will vote on whether they prefer plank or asphalt paths. Commissioner Peck noted that while asphalt is clearly the superior material, it remains more expensive, and its long-term durability against the region’s frost cycles remains an open question.
“The greatest foe to asphalt is frost, which causes it to bulge and crack.”
The turn-of-the-century 'Bicycle Boom' led to early municipal experiments with dedicated bike infrastructure. Today, Walla Walla is once again re-evaluating its street layouts to balance vehicle traffic with active transportation, mirroring this 1903 struggle to choose cost-effective and durable materials for public right-of-ways.
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