Road block

Nigel F Boddy’s letter (4 ­December) suggesting the ­dualling of the A68 to Edinburgh instead of the A1 is way off route.

I am surprised that he ever chose to drive between Darlington and Edinburgh on a regular basis, given the frequent and fast train service between the two places.

That aside, compared with the A1, the A68 may indeed save the motorist some 15 miles.

But, with an overall maximum speed limit of 60 mph and a host of local speed restrictions, it is an up and down-hill road with plenty of scenery – now much marred by a proliferation of wind turbines – and certainly not an easy drive.

For all its faults, the A1 is largely dual carriageway with relatively short stretches in north Northumberland and Berwickshire requiring upgrading, whereas to make a dual ­carriageway of the A68, which runs through difficult country and the middle of many ­communities en route, would require the creation of a 140 mile highway largely from scratch. HS2 is probably a ­doddle by comparison.

I can only hope that when he was working at Holyrood Mr Boddy was not involved in transport planning.

Colin Wakeling

Berrington Lough

Berwick-upon-Tweed