The people who regularly drive along the Bingley relief road have every reason to appreciate its practical merits. At peak times it can knock up to half an hour off the journey time between Crossflatts and Cottingley.

Unfortunately at that latter end it decants vehicles into a bottleneck caused by the problems of getting through Saltaire - but that's another story, and one which looks likely to run for some time before an acceptable, radical solution is found.

Taken in isolation from those problems, though, the Bingley relief road is a great success. It does what it set out to do. It has taken the bulk of the through traffic out of the town, making it a much more pleasant environment for the people who live there or visit the place. And it has done it without being a blot on the landscape as it crosses a river and three peat bogs and cuts through a landfill site before squeezing its way past the town centre alongside a road, railway and canal.

In fact it looks rather good - something which has been recognised by the judges of the Prime Minister's Better Public Building Award who were so impressed with it that they made it the first highways scheme to win this prestigious award, whose previous recipients include the Tate Modern.

It's quite an honour, and well deserved. From the stone walls and landscaped embankments to the sweep of the footbridges and the modern viaduct that carries the road over the river, this scheme was designed not just not to offend the eye but to please it. The judges' decision confirms that it has succeeded.