Children celebrate new safe route to school in Somerset

Somerset school children will celebrate the opening of a new section of the National Cycle Network which saves them from having to negotiate a busy road.

The 100-metre traffic-free section plugs a missing gap on the former railway line through Bawdrip, allowing pedestrians and cyclists to avoid the A39.

Sustainable transport charity Sustrans managed the project with Somerset County Council, which invested £50,000 on the section to build around sewer and earth works.

The land has been made available by property developers S Notaro Ltd and forms part of The Stop Line Way cycle route between Weston-super-Mare and Seaton, which now has a continuous line from Brean - north of Burnham-on-Sea - to Taunton.

The section will be officially opened on Tuesday (March 31) with celebratory bike rides from Highbridge railway station to Bawdrip from 1pm and from Bawdrip School to Bridgwater railway station at 3.45pm.

Sustrans is working with Somerset County Council and six other local authorities on improvements to The Stop Line Way, scheduled for completion by 2010.

For further information about Sustrans, visit the website: www.sustrans.org.uk