Here's a pretty cool video on the history of Dutch cycling paths. It isn't the history I think most of us, at least in the US, would have imagined: [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XuBdf9jYj7o[/video] I think there are a few things in the video that would apply to cycling in the US. One thing that certainly doesn't apply is the Dutch response to the oil crisis in the '70's. The US hasn't and likely won't for a long time, if ever, have any national will to develop and further expand alternative transportation. I think when the tap eventually runs dry, the US is going to be in one of the worst, if not the worst, conditions among first and some third world countries.