Sustrans National Cycle Network
The Sustrans cycle route network is perhaps the most well known cycling route system since its creation in 1977 under the name Cyclebag, by a group of environmentalists and cycling enthusiasts who were concerned ( perhaps well ahead of their time) that following the oil crisis of 1973 that people were becoming too dependent on cars or other transportation.
They were also motivated to create the Sustrans cycle route due to the fact that the UK did not have many designated areas for cyclists for practice their sport compared to other major European countries.
Once unemployment began in increase in the 80′s the founders of Sustrans took advantage of the government plans to employ people with ‘green route’ creations and improved the paths that make up the cycle network by building more route paths along the canals of the area which greatly increased the amount of people who used the cycling route.
The latest improvements to the route acme in the early nineties when they received £43.5m in a grant from the Millennium Lottery Fund and extended the National Cycle Network so that it reached many of the smaller neighbourhoods and towns along the Sustrans cycle route network.
Currently, there are about 10,000 miles of marked and paved cycle routes that extend as part of the Sustrans cycle network that branch throughout the UK although a large part of the network is not on separate cycling trails, but alongside small minor roads where traffic is minimal and safe for cyclists to share the road with.
Most of the urban areas have trails that are separate from motor traffic which make up about 20% of the trails in the network, but these off road trails receive the most traffic overall as they garnish 80% of all the traffic within the Sustrans cycle route networks. Surprisingly, recent monitoring reported that only 35% of use of the urban sections of the trail for leisure cycling trips.
In order to maintain the route, Sustrans has a large number of volunteer rangers that total up to somewhere around 1500 who travel sections of the cycle network regularly to ensure that the trails are well maintained and promoted properly.
These volunteers often advocate use of the Sustrans network by organizing marathons along their respective portions with local authorities as well as by keeping information about the trail well stocked along the beginnings of each segment.
