SIR - The T&A report (June 9) on a shovel ready, but as yet unfunded, scheme to span the Aire Valley Trunk Road with a pedestrian and cyclists bridge threw up some queries in my mind.

The Director of Delivery claimed the Leeds Liverpool Canal, River Aire railway line through Steeton Station and four lanes of 70mph traffic made walking and cycling between Silsden and Steeton “extremely difficult”. Surely that's a misrepresentation. The canal, river and railway all pass under the main road linking Silsden and Steeton which has a good footpath.

As for 70mph traffic, the proposed bridge and current crossing point is at a roundabout where the traffic is paused or at low speed.

The Calderdale councillor says the bridge will pass over the western arm of the roundabout, and a pedestrian/cycle path will go from the bridge to the canal. This is 0.6 of a mile as the crow flies to its nearest point west of Silsden, occasionally across private land and will need a river crossing bridge.

The proposed bridge is justified on the basis that currently for pedestrians and cyclists, crossing the trunk road is risky, so the sooner the scheme is at the end of a shovel the better.

Philip Crowther, Beckfield Road, Bingley