PAUL ANDERSON suggested (Letters, April 12) that expenditure on a cycle lane alongside the A1237 has been a waste of money, as he has not seen one cyclist on it.

He may be unaware that, while much of this link has been built, there remains a short missing section without which the route cannot be opened.

This is a bridge across the York to Scarborough railway line near the Haxby Road end. It will require a preplanned weekend possession of the railway lines by Network Rail, perhaps with “bustitution” for rail passengers.

Once this is done, the cycle route will open later this year.

The cost of this work is not being met from council tax, but from York’s grant from the government’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund. It is part of a much bigger package of measures being undertaken in York’s Northern Quadrant, to deliver a step change in transport provision.

Targeted infrastructure improvements combined with a programme of personal, business and school travel planning will increase local travel choices, in an area where there are currently high numbers of short car trips to employment and retail destinations.

Paul Hepworth, Windmill Rise, Holgate, York.