The next stage of the construction work for the Trams for Edinburgh project has now commenced as complaints have continued over the disruption it will cause and has already caused. Indeed, The Scotsman lead with the story headlined “Five months of hell in city centre as tram work steps up”.
On Saturday 1st March Shandwick Place was shut for the first time, and this will remain closed to traffic for five months whilst the work takes place. This will cause major disruption to many bus services which use this as a main route through the city centre with diversions being put into place – a team of 70 were planned to be ensuring these were ready over this weekend. Police motorbike patrols will be used for the first few days of the diversions to ensure that traffic is continuing to move smoothly.
Traffic being diverted from Princes Street to Shandwick Place will go up Lothian Road and on to the West Approach Road. Any traffic heading to the city centre from Haymarket will be diverted along Melville Street – which will see parking along it temporarily removed. There will be 12 temporary bus stops along the diversionary route whilst other bus stops which remain open will see their services change.
Willie Gallagher, executive chairman of tie, said: “The successful construction of the Edinburgh tram project and the necessary utilities diversions requires significant temporary traffic diversions. We have identified the optimum traffic management solution that ensures the best vehicle flow for both public transport and other traffic. We have also considered the views and needs of residents and businesses in our planning regarding parking and access. TIE continues to work closely with the business community and residents in the West End of Edinburgh to ensure practical issues including access, deliveries and service are resolved and that the city of Edinburgh is open for business as the work continues. The citizens of Edinburgh and its business community expect and want this work to be done safely, quickly and to budget. Our approach to diverting the utilities, coupled with the traffic management measures is the best way to achieve this.”
Obviously complaints are continuing into the disruption with many saying it will be hell for the duration of the work. Bruce Young, Lothian and Borders co-ordinator of the Association of British Drivers, said: “I can easily imagine that the roadworks will add half an hour to journey times across the city. The obvious answer is for people to avoid the city centre altogether for the foreseeable future.”
Of those complaining they would do well to look to Dublin and the complaints that they saw in the Irish capital during construction of LUAS. Tom Manning, Ireland’s Railway Procurement Agency, said: “The city was like a bomb had hit it and people were sceptical about it in the first place. People said it wouldn't work, that nobody would go on it, all stuff people in Edinburgh are saying. We carried almost 30 million passengers last year, which was way more than we expected."
This stage of the tram works should be completed by the time of the Edinburgh International Festival in August and it is expected that an announcement will be forthcoming in April about the next stage of works.
* Further details of where the utility diversion works are taking place can be found on the official Trams for Edinburgh website here.
Source: The Scotsman