• Traffic is reduced by fewer cars
being used for commutation and recreation.
• Traffic is made safer by relocating bikes and pedestrians from busy roadways
to quiet byways and exclusive no-motor-vehicle bikeways.
• Public health is promoted by biking and walking on an expanding network of paths.
• Abandoned railways, underused canal towpaths, and other decaying rights-of-way
are revitalized to become useful again.
• Improved access to nature is developed with minimal new impact on the environment.
• Reduced motor vehicle usage means a corresponding reduction in environmental
problems,
especially dirty air, noise pollution, traffic congestion, and energy
consumption.
• A cottage industry of support cafés, restaurants, lodgings, and bike repair shops
grows up along the network.
• Artists, engineers, architects, and sculptors have a new outlet for their skills.
• The cost (over £44 million so far) has been underwritten not by taxes but by the
UK National Lottery
through the (soon-to-expire) Millennium Commission. A dedicated private
charity, Sustrans
(for "sustainable transportation") oversees the development
of the system, working with over
400 local governments as well as British Waterways and other
organizations.
• The nationwide route system attracts international visitors as well as domestic
users, creating new tourism revenues.
With the approach of the turn of the millennium, a special committee was established to
mark the year 2000 with projects that would be funded to a large degree by the UK National
Lottery. The non-profit Sustains organization was awarded a large grant to develop a
National Cycle Network, and the new government of quasi-independent Scotland and the
Districts of Stirling and Perthshire jumped in to help bring a major route to the region.