DID you enjoy a swift journey home last night? Unless you travelled by bicycle or hot air balloon, the answer is probably an emphatic no.

York has not suffered congestion like it since work to upgrade the A64 brought the city to a standstill.

Most routes out were gridlocked. Many routes in were just as bad.

Workers across York were swapping journey nightmares today. Thirty-five minutes from Walmgate to the Barbican Centre. Fifty minutes to cross town.

This sort of congestion is not merely inconvenient. For the emergency services it can mean the difference between life and death.

For many others, it means lost business. Bus and taxi drivers were going nowhere.

Pub takings were down as those who had fought their way through the traffic to get home were in no mood to venture out again.

And day-trippers who struggled to leave York will think twice about returning.

Reports today suggest that the scale of the congestion can be pinned on contractors who set up temporary traffic lights earlier than scheduled.

That demonstrates the fragility of York's road network. It does not take much - a busy day in the half-term holiday, a single set of temporary roadworks - to jam up the city centre.

For a council planning next year's Royal Ascot race meeting and consulting on the Local Transport Plan, this is serious food for thought.

Updated: 11:06 Wednesday, October 27, 2004