Sir, - A number of writers to the paper have incorrectly stated that the road-widening in Glen of the Downs will "save only 30 seconds" in journey time. The current single-lane section in the glen creates major traffic jams as four lanes - two from Wicklow, one from Delgany and one from Willow Grove - merge just south of the Glen. For many years Dublin residents returning from Wicklow and Wexford on summer weekends have created long tailbacks here. These have got much worse in recent years and large volumes of traffic have taken to "rat-running" along the heavily populated old Wicklow Road through Newcastle, Kilcoole, Greystones and Bray Head. Over 350 houses front directly onto this road. It has no footpath for most of its length and is totally unsuited to this traffic. There have been a number of pedestrian fatalities on it in recent years.During October, November and December 1997 there were traffic delays of about 10 minutes during the morning rush-hour. On one occasion it took 25 minutes to travel the mile from Delgany to the glen due to the volume of traffic merging. The traffic freed up at the north end of the glen and the delay was not caused by a back-up from Kilmacanogue. The "Celtic Tiger" has created an enormous increase in traffic on this road and the further increases in car ownership which will happen as we reach European standards of affluence will create traffic jams most of the time if it is left as a singlelane road. It is far better and safer to increase the N11 to four lanes through the glen in order to keep traffic on this high-quality road that has fewer than 20 houses on it. This will be a four-lane road from Belfast to Arklow and it should not be left as two lanes in this place.About 150 of the trees are large mature trees and it is unfortunate to have to cut them down, but in my view saving a single life takes priority. Much of the new road will be built on a disused old section of road. The tree-protesters' literature is wrong and very misleading as it says that the road widening will speed up traffic by only 30 seconds and that the only reason for the project is because of a plan to double the population of Greystones/Delgany. The latter plan has been dropped. Having read this misleading information many people, mostly from Dublin, have signed the petition. The economic prosperity of East Wicklow, including the unemployment blackspot of Arklow, depends on having good transport via the N11.Some protesters have stated that a four-lane road does not need "hard shoulders" and thus it does not need to be so wide. Most Irish national roads have shoulders to safely allow for slowmoving vehicles such as tractors and cyclists. Many Continental roads do not have these extra lanes. The glen is used a lot by cyclists and a major strategy of the Dublin Transportation Office is to encourage cycling and make it safer by separating bicycles from cars. The tree protesters' suggestion of cutting out the "hard shoulder" would go against this trend and make cycling more dangerous.I am a firm supporter of public transport and have campaigned since 1979 for the DART to be extended to Greystones. This extension is now under way and there is also a need to improve the very poor commuter rail service to Wicklow Town and Arklow. This must be done in conjunction with improving the N11 and is not an alternative to it. - Yours, etc.,Derek Mitchell,Member, GreystonesTown Commission,Manor Avenue,Greystones.