A scenic bridleway which cost £150,000 has opened up the countryside to horse riders, cyclists and walkers.

The 17-mile track is known as the Calder Aire link route, starting at the St Ives Estate, near Bingley, through woodland, moorland and ancient lanes to connect with the Pennine Bridleway National Trail at Widdop Road, in Calderdale.

New bridleways have been installed at various points along the route over the last five years to join together existing bridleways.

Two thirds of the money was spent on a Pegasus Crossing' over the A629 between Keighley and Halifax which intercepts the route.

Elevated buttons activate a light-controlled crossing set back from the road and allows users to remain on their rides at a safe distance from the traffic to cross the road.

A car park has been created with additional spaces for vehicles with horse boxes at St Ives Estate off Harden Road.

The project was a collaboration between Natural England, Bradford and Calderdale Councils and The Friends of St Ives. Natural England received a grant of £1.8million from Sport England to create 350 mile of interconnected bridleway routes through England's countryside.

The Calder Aire route was officially opened yesterday and Pennine Bridleway project manager Anna Righton, said: "I'm really pleased to get it open, it has been a long time coming but once it is open it will be well worth it. We've had some great feedback from users already and hearing it makes the project worthwhile."

Barrie Tinker, principal parks and landscapes manager at Bradford Council, said: "We needed the new car park at St Ives because people were parking on the sides of the road all the way up through the estate, and this is a very good working solution."

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, Bradford Council's executive member for environment and culture, said: "It is great news that the Calder Aire link is open. We have so much for people to explore in our district and by opening up this route we hope that cyclists, riders and walkers will enjoy exploring this."

The new link route joins into a network of 120 mile from Derbyshire to the Mary Towneley Loop through Lancashire, Rochdale and Calderdale as well as a ten-mile Settle Loop in the Yorkshire Dales. Two further links are planned connecting Penistone with Oldham and Bolton.