I REFER to the current letters regarding traffic problems in Devizes, including that of the construction of a tunnel under the town (Gazette, April 15 and 22).

On the latter suggestion I must admit I rushed to the calendar as I thought I must have missed a day or two and it was April 1. Of course the traffic problem is a national issue, be it a county town, village or city.

They all suffer from gridlock situations.

But a tunnel to relieve the traffic pressure on Devizes is a nonsense.

However, may I offer the following as a means of achieving a reduction, however small, in the density of traffic leading into our small towns and villages, on roads designed for the Victorian era.

a) Direct as much through traffic, particularly heavy traffic, articulated lorries etc., on to motorways when traffic is minimal, not only

during the day but in particular

during the night-time.

b) Curbside parking we see our roadsides clogged with parked vehicles on both sides of the road. But where else can you park other than the curbside when official parking lots are so limited in capacity? For goodness sake why don't the powers that be plan a multi-storey car park so freeing up our streets from exhaust fumes and the many other hazards facing the motorist and the pedestrian? There's plenty of space skywards, unlimited in fact why not use it?

c) With new estates I believe on the planning agenda for Devizes and with it the growth in population and vehicle activity it is evident that traffic problems in Devizes should be addressed as a matter or urgency.

To maintain a status quo on matters so serious as traffic congestion cannot on any grounds be justified or sustainable in a climate of increased growth in population.

d) Of course we can do much for ourselves if we cease our nostalgia for the past.

For instance, why do we have Wadworth Brewery drays cluttering up our streets trundling through the town on roads unsuitable even to cope with 21st-century traffic?

It may well be a good advert for Wadworth's 6X but what about the confusion, traffic jams etc., on our overloaded streets?

Is that not a matter of concern also?

K. R. MANNS

Blounts Court

Potterne