Surprise, surprise. Easter came upon us once again and the A64 at Hopgrove was at a standstill. At 2.35pm on Good Friday the traffic was still backed up to Grimston Bar.

So despite the £9 million-plus spent on the roundabout nothing has changed and it has turned out to been a gross waste of money. On Wednesday, August 27, 2008, I made comment in The Press: “I see the council are preparing to squander another £9 million on Hopgrove Roundabout (Cameras won’t save lives at all, Letters). Again a gross waste of money as it will have no effect whatsoever without major alterations to the road from there to Spitalbeck.”

I wasn’t the only one to pass similar comments, but does this council take any notice? Not on your life; they would rather waste yet more of our money on consultants who, from what prevailed on the bypass on Friday, have very little grasp of the situation. It is hardly surprising that our country is in the state it is when these so-called leaders can just fritter away money that does not belong to them on schemes that have little chance of success.

John Miller, Hunters Close, Dunnington, York.

• I have no doubt that the planners are devastated that their modifications to the Hopgrove roundabout on the A64 have not solved all the congestion problems.

Put quite simply, a dual carriageway and a bypass filtering into a two-lane road is just not possible without congestion, no matter how technical the roundabout is. Three into one does not go, any primary school pupil will confirm this.

No matter how fancy and Rolls Royce the roundabout is, the simple fact remains, so why squander all the money in the first place?

All that remains is for a three-lane cycleway to be added to bring the disaster up to true York standards.

J A Whitmore, Springfield Road, York.

• Editor’s note: The Hopgrove roundabout scheme was carried out by the Highways Agency. City of York Council contributed £300,000 to the scheme’s £9 million cost.