I WONDER how many people sit in the traffic on the two roads around York and curse. These roads are of course the A64 and the A1237 ring road. It would seem those responsible have decided that, because much of the traffic from the A1237 had moved onto the A64 because of the roadworks, they would put roadworks on the A64 too.

How stupid to start the A64 modifications only six weeks from the end of the A1237 works. Especially now that the school run is back up and running and, as indicated by your article, the sugar beet campaign has now started (October 2).

I honestly believe there is little thought given to these projects and no forethought as to what will happen in the near future. It is very frustrating to have to add over half an hour to a journey to work, which already takes too long due to normal traffic congestion.

I have written to the Highways Agency complaining about this lack of thought and suggesting they survey the local people for their suggestions on this matter. May I through your paper ask others to write too, then maybe those of us in the middle of this ludicrous situation will be heard and have an effect.

Surely those in the hierarchy must see the stupidity of this situation when both major roads around York are at a standstill.

Sylvia Dunn,

Rutland Close,

Copmanthorpe, York.

...I MUST reply to Mr Duck's letter which suggested reopening Pavement and Coppergate to all traffic while the roadworks continue at Copmanthorpe. Such a reopening would merely gridlock the centre of town, where public transport at least can move, and would also give my favourite York traffic feature, the rising bollard, less to do.

A number of alternative possibilities spring to mind. York commuters may remember last September when there was a lack of petrol. Within days our roads were quiet and pollution levels dropped spectacularly.

Commuters on the whole still made it to work but some creative things started to happen. Instead of one person in each car we found three or four people. It may interest Mr Duck that on a normal day in the UK we have ten million empty seats on our roads. If the cars around York had twice as many people in them, at a stroke we could halve the traffic!

A great many under-used cycles also hit the roads. Any commute of around five miles or less will be very much faster and cheaper if done by bike. If Mr Duck is travelling from Stonebow to Dringhouses he will find the trip by bike will take about 15-20 minutes, and will be very pleasant. Myself and my colleagues would be delighted to offer advice on cycle commuting, as would the Travelwise officer on the council.

Sara Robin,

Co-op director,

York Cycleworks,

Lawrence Street, York.

Updated: 11:06 Saturday, October 06, 2001