Unfortunately in ILlinois we had a related incident some years back that we're still reaping hte "benefits" of. A rider was injured because of road conditions and lost because the rider was not "an expected user of the road," so they shouldn't have had to think about safety for cyclists; it wasn't as if, the majority ruled, the road had been marked for cyclists or anything!
This created an instant and huge disincentive for ever doing *anything* to a road so that a rider could say "I'm expected here." http://chicagobikelaw.blogspot.com/search?q=boub has the details including a link to a list of known times when the case meant planners & government folks decided not to do things that might be confused as admitting bicyclists used roads.

Fortunately I *do* think the tide is shifting (I'm certainly shouldering up to it and trying to help). I'm hoping that bicycling will start to be something that even people who can afford cars do for good and valid reasons.