Travelling on a regular basis from Aberdare to Mountain Ash I notice the traffic backing from the traffic lights in Mountain Ash and sometimes past the roundabout serving the new hospital.

This super highway through Mountain Ash has been there since the canal was closed in 1924 with all the large-scale developments being constructed in Cynon Valley why are the local authorities neglecting major road improvements to the main carriageway through the Cynon Valley the Southern Cross Valley Link road bridge would be a good start.

I have also noticed that for some weeks now the queue on the A470 just after Taffs Well is very very slow moving! After travelling to Cardiff to work for nearly 23 years I know the pattern of traffic, and whilst I expect the amount of traffic on the road for this time of year to increase, it does seem that something else has changed to cause this traffic to be slow moving. The only thing I can think of is that Cardiff City council have changed the traffic light timmings for the first set of lights on Manor Way going into Cardiff.

I am also told that the new housing that is going to be built in Cardiff will add somewhere in the region of 40% onto journey times for people commuting into the city from outside of Cardiff. We could do without having to put up with this on the way home as well! It is not good for anyones health! The government harp on about how much obesity is costing the NHS, but say nothing about how stress caused by day to day things such as commuting which also costs the NHS as more people will have high blood pressure and strokes! At the end of the day, we don't have much alternative! Move to cardiff, and borrow way beyond your means to afford a property there! Catch public transport which in my case will prove more costly as my wife travells to work with me in the car, and it will also be more hassle! They want us to work longer before we retire, BUT those of us doing this commuting will be burnt out before then.

The whole way we approach work in this country really needs to change. We have the technology for those who can work from home to do so, therby reducing the traffic congestion for those who have no alternative but to perform their roles at their place of work. The technology is there to monitor what is being done at home, so you can see if the job is being done or not. Trouble is, people are afraid of change, and managers are afraid of loosing control, even with the technology available to them.

It is only my opinion by the way, but I really do feel that nothing will ever be done to improve the road or job situation in the valleys. This being the case, the only way forward is to embrace technology and get more people who have jobs that can be done from home to do so. Some do work from home now, but sadly only the privellaged few (usually people higher up in the organisation).

Yes unfortunately gibbsy it is a must for me, but it doesn't have to be that way. I have been on blood pressure tablets for years, which can be partly attributed to the commuting as it is very stressfull. But, the way the work ethos is at present, nothing will change appart from peoples health. In this day and age of IT (my field of work), the capability is there for some to work from home, and even participate in meetings over the net.

Find funding for link road, council is told

MONEY should be found for a long-awaited link road to ease traffic congestion in the Cynon Valley, according to the leader of the council’s opposition group.

Plans for the £6m Southern Cross Valley Link to relieve pressure on the A4059 were made years ago. But bids for European funding failed and the scheme has now been excluded from Rhondda Cynon Taf council’s capital spending programme for the next three years.

Plaid Cymru’s Pauline Jarman claims the Labour-run council has failed to do enough to attract EU cash and should start looking for alternatives.

Read more: Wales Online http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/south-wales-news/cynon-valley/2013/04/...