WE support the letter from Eileen Collier (March 26) calling for the escalating money required for the A14 upgrade to be shifted to rail improvements. In fact, the escalation is worse than your original article (March 12) suggested. The report of the Camb

WE support the letter from Eileen Collier (March 26) calling for the escalating money required for the A14 upgrade to be shifted to rail improvements.

In fact, the escalation is worse than your original article (March 12) suggested.

The report of the Cambridge-Huntingdon Multi-Modal Study quoted a cost of a mere £192million, just over a fifth of the current cost. As the Highways Agency was heavily involved in this study, one is led to ask how they allowed what now looks like a wild underestimate to go through.

As well as improving rail links for both freight and passengers, we also need to ensure that the new town of Northstowe is designed on "eco-town" principles, for which recently published guidance suggests a target of no more than 25 per cent of journeys by car. And we need to develop cross country bus links that can be used, sometimes in conjunction with rail, for journeys between East Anglia and the Midlands and North.

Finally, why not damp down demand by using the A14 as a test bed for national road pricing, with revenue going towards the above rail and bus improvements?

SIMON NORTON

Coordinator, Cambs Campaign for Better Transport (formerly Transport 2000 Cambs & West Suffolk)

Cambridge