IT is outrageous that safety measures at Bilbrough Top on the A64 have been put back several months.

We had to campaign long and hard to persuade the Highways Agency of the dangers of this junction, confirmed this week as the most hazardous in North Yorkshire.

The notorious central reservation gap was finally to be closed this month.

Now the agency has added incompetence to equivocation, with an apparent underestimation of the bill for the flyover.

The agency could and should reduce the impact of this error by closing the gap anyway.

Otherwise, we fear the delay could cost lives.

Updated: 10:52 Friday, June 13, 2003