Trek's president calls bicycling a "cheap date"

Timed conveniently to fit into Bike to Work Week, today's business Q&A featured John Burke, president of Trek Bicycle Corp.

In the interview with Journal Sentinel reporter Don Walker, Burke made the point that building infrastructure for bicyclists is a "cheap date." By that, he means a price-smart way to combat congestion on the freeways and expansion around our waists.

"It costs on average something like $50 million to build a mile of an urban, four-lane freeway," Burke said in the interview. "If you take a look at what it costs to build bicycle facilities, it's a fraction of that number. Bicycle infrastructure is an absolute cheap date."

He later talked about the plan by Gov. Scott Walker to strip $5 million dedicated to bike and pedestrian improvements from the Department of Transportation budget.

"I think it's a big wasted opportunity. I had the opportunity to meet with him a few weeks ago. We had a very good conversation ... about the $5 million and the future of bicycling in the state of Wisconsin.

"The governor is right. There is a huge fiscal problem in this state. ... It's my belief that a bicycle is a really cheap date. You are going to spend a lot of money building certain roads that you might not need to spend money on when you could build other roads and bicycle facilities."

Click here to read more from Burke on his company and its leading cyclist, Lance Armstrong.