IT'S good to read of your campaign for the Western link road. Thankfully we have the foresight of some entrepreneurs from more 200 years ago as we still wholly rely on their road bridge over the Lune (Skerton Bridge) for journeys south.

We also rely wholly on a 150-year-old railway bridge for journeys north. Where would we be without these two magnificent bridges, neither one built for carrying motor vehicles of any sort?

I have lived in the area for all of my 56 years and I well remember the roads before the M6 was built. We seem to have returned to that era.

Everyone I know supports the Western by-pass as the only viable route and we live all over the area. It is the only route which gives proper access to the West of Lancaster.

On the green issues, the western route is more environmentally friendly to all species of life as each and every vehicle using it will make a shorter journey - for instance, each lorry will save a gallon of fuel per journey. That's 500,000 gallons of fuel and the associated gases saved every year.

As we see it, the only reason Lancashire County Council has opted for the Northern route is because it believes part of the funding will come from the upgrade of Junction 34. The hidden agenda?

How come the M6 can have an extra bridge when Lancaster cannot have one? If the Western by-pass were built, there would be very little traffic using Junction 34.

R Conway, Lancaster.