THE January 20 edition of the Wiltshire Times gave a very misleading picture of the situation at Stonehenge, viewing Stonehenge from the Amesbury side of the A303. 
It was obvious that it was to look as though the presence of cars and other traffic had a detrimental effect on the Stonehenge scene. What would it have looked like if the photo had been taken with the stones in front and observing the vehicles travelling on the A303 in the distance? I would suggest the vehicles would have been quite inconspicuous.
I visited Stonehenge on June 2, 2016 with my wife and son and, while walking round the stones, I specifically looked around to see how much the vehicles on the A303 affected my appreciation of this part World Heritage site.
From whichever position I chose to stand and look, the only vehicles that I could see looked like very small Dinky toys from more than 20 paces. Whilst I admit to slightly reduced hearing, I was unaware of any traffic noise.
So why the necessity of sinking the A303 in a costly tunnel which will have the associated repair and maintenance costs, and closures after accidents, forever and a day.
I have been visiting Stonehenge for well over 50 years and have never been put off by vehicular road traffic in the vicinity of the stones, even when the A344 ran immediately past the site. I allow that removing the A344 from the area has offered an improvement to the scenery, but this is minimal in terms of appreciation and enjoyment of my visiting the site.
I consider that it would be more cost-effective to convert the A303 to an M standard over the allotted 2.9km, and make the awful looking, barn-like Visitor Centre more attractive.
In this day of virtually unlimited travel, having a sighting of Stonehenge whilst travelling past by car or coach would have the occupants of the vehicles exclaiming “There’s Stonehenge!” Why deny future travellers this satisfaction?
On my earlier visits to Stonehenge with my wife and sons, we could walk among the stones, touch them, and really appreciate the size of these enormous stones and the efforts of our ancient forbears to construct this monument.
Unfortunately, this pleasure has now been removed, apart from during the solstice celebrations, for which one pays heavily.
I have another concern – what would happen if there was a major incident in the tunnelled portion of the A303 road? It seems to be quite busy at most times of the day and 2.9km is quite a long distance for the recovery and support services.
Pete Clark
Fulford Road
Trowbridge