PAUL Hepworth (Letters, October 7) tries to convince readers that the only way to avoid traffic gridlock is to close junctions, avoid doing anything on the outer ring road and get people to cycle.

Perhaps he hasn’t noticed that gridlock is here now, most of it brought about by accommodating cyclists.

With an ever-increasing population and no chance of building or widening new roads, the only option is to make the best use of what we have.

There is nothing sensible about closing roads to the majority of users in order to make travel better for a small minority of people.

Great piles of money have benefited cyclists.

What have we attained by this expenditure? A small increase in the number of cyclists on the road when the weather is fine and everyone else held up in longer queues.

It seems contradictory that, with the number of cars in York only marginally higher than ten years ago, and with all the technology available to help traffic flow, the queues have trebled.

Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to have bought each cyclist a small car and left roads and junctions operating efficiently?

Steve Helsdon, Howe Hill Close, Holgate, York.