This SUSTRANS network milestone marker is on the Spen Ringway, part of national route 66. Route 66 links Manchester with Kingston-upon-Hull.
The Spen Ringway uses a disused railway line running near the River Spen between the towns of Littletown and Heckmondwike. It is 2.5 miles long and has a tarmac surface along its whole length.
SUSTRANS is an organisation that promotes the use of cycles as a green form of transport. A national network of cycle routes is being developed in conjunction with local councils. Wherever possible the routes avoid roads, but in some places have to share the road network.
As part of the millennium celebrations 1000 mileposts have been installed at various positions throughout the whole SUSTRANS network.
The posts all originally had embossed discs showing a "Time Trail" symbol. These formed a nationwide puzzle that could be cracked by collecting the symbols, but many, including this one, have been stolen.
There are 1,000 cast-iron Millennium Mileposts, donated by The Royal Bank of Scotland, along the UK's National Cycle Network, a Millennium Commission project supported by £43.5m of National Lottery Funds.
This type was designed by John Mills and is called 'The Fossil Tree', this post takes the form of an abstract tree with relief imagery of fossils depicting the passage of time from early primitive creatures to the ultimate demise of fossil fuel driven technology.
The reason for the green colour
At the time the mile posts were erected local communities were encouraged to paint the posts in any colour scheme they liked. However there is a different reason for this green coloured mile post.
On July 5th 2014 The Tour de France cycle race started from Leeds in Yorkshire (strange but true). There is a tradition of lining the route with yellow bikes, the colour of the jersey worn by the rider with the lowest aggregated time after each stage.
Volunteer
SUSTRANS Ranger Ben Manuja, came up with the idea of painting some of the mileposts in Yorkshire yellow.
In the event it was decided that a number of mileposts would be painted in the various jersey colours used by leading cyclists in the race rather than painting them all yellow.
"Whereas the yellow jersey is awarded for the lowest cumulative time in the race, the green jersey reflects points gained for high placings on each stage and intermediate "hot spots", especially during the flat stages of the Tour. The intermediate sprints were formerly for the intermediate sprints classification, with the points for the points classification a 'side-effect'; however, the intermediate sprints classification was later scrapped, but the intermediate sprints remained part of the points classification.
The points classification is widely thought of as the "sprinter's competition", since the most points are scored in flat stages, in which the riders generally remain together in one large peloton, leaving the best sprinters at the end to fight for the stage win."
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