I SEE that the replacement of two bridges over the A64 has received a commendation in the Institution of Civil Engineers 2000 Awards (February 25).

These new bridges are no doubt a cheap, quick and clever solution to the problem. They are an aesthetic horror! Unfortunately you were not able to show a picture of before/after. This would have shown the original bridges built to the same theme as the rest of the bridges on the York southern by-pass ("battlemented" - my description) which was opened in 1976.

These new structures bear no resemblance to that theme, nor do they stand in their own right. They are two-span as opposed to single span; are propped at the centre on round columns which sit on a large block of above ground concrete; the exposed steel is painted a light green, and the altered supports on each side are a bodge, neither following the original and still existing finishes, nor making a statement of their own.

I commend these bridges to the Civic Trust for consideration in their next list of York's eyesores and hope that the other bridges on the A64 are not replaced in a like manner.

Graham Tissiman,

Eastfield Avenue, Haxb.

Updated: 10:05 Saturday, March 03, 2001