I AGREE with Bob McLaughlin's comments on the excessive cost of £11.3million for the A64 highway works at Bilbrough (November 17).

About 20 years ago I prepared and submitted to the Highways Agency a simple, safe and cost effective solution.

That proposal was to close the gap in the central reservation of the A64 and have dedicated left turn acceleration and deceleration lanes for access on to and egress from the A64 to the lane to Bilbrough, and to the commercial development to the south of the A64.

That was simple because it did not involve an overpass or the purchase of any significant amount of land.

It was safe because it eliminated crossing movements and stationary vehicles on the A64 and therefore cost effective due to the minor extent of these works.

The additional distances to drive to turn off the A64 at Tadcaster, the Buckles Inn or the ring road at Askham Bryan would have been a small price to have paid for the elimination of the hazard of the gap at Bilbrough.

My proposal was rejected - why?

The Highways Agency considered that there were too few accidents on the junction and they refused to close the gap, even though our developer client would have paid for all related highway improvement works. Similar schemes exist elsewhere on trunk roads.

Therefore the full cost of the works currently implemented could and should have been avoided.

James D Taylor,

Consulting engineer,

Dossor Group,

Heworth House, York.

Updated: 10:23 Tuesday, November 23, 2004