The British Cycle Tracks website has now gone live, part-funded by the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund. Between 1934 and 1945, the Ministry of Transport paid local authorities to build 100+ Dutch-inspired cycle tracks. The new website documents why they were built, how they were used, and why they faded from memory.
Space for cycling, which many planners and politicians say isn’t there, has been there — often unknown and neglected — for nearly a century.
BritishCycleTracks.com contains a 120,000-word research study written by historian and journalist Carlton Reid. Then-and-now swipeable maps and images were produced by coder James Houston for the website.
Twelve of the period cycle tracks have been evaluated for revamping. One of them was part of a £2.2 million DfT-funded renovation project, and with the launch of the website, it is hoped that more local authorities will use the information provided to bid for funding to rescue their tracks.
BritishCycleTracks.com was also supported by 900+ Kickstarter backers, Foundation for Integrated Transport, Happy Streets Foundation and the Cycling History and Educational Trust
