Motorists to face new curbs with trams

Published on Tuesday 15 September 2009 22:03

DRIVERS in Edinburgh face a series of major permanent restrictions along the tram route under city council plans going out for public scrutiny.

The changes would affect key road junctions and significantly reduce parking along parts of the Edinburgh airport-Newhaven line.

Traffic flows in streets around Haymarket would be changed, while a temporary ban on cars using Shandwick Place would become fixed. St Andrew Square and Leith Walk would be among other areas to see the greatest shake-up.

A four-week consultation with bus firms, hauliers and the emergency services will start next month, followed by the public in February.

The city council said the restrictions were required to ensure smooth running of the trams, which are now due to start operating in February 2012.

This includes centre-lane sections of four-lane streets, such as Leith Walk, being reserved for trams and buses.

In the city centre, drivers crossing Princes Street would face new restrictions, and the last remaining car access to the thoroughfare – on the gardens' side carriageway at night – would be blocked. All left and right turns at the Mound on to Princes Street would be banned, with traffic also no longer permitted to turn left from Lothian Road into Shandwick Place.

Frederick Street would be reopened to buses, taxis and cyclists.

At Haymarket, Torphichen Street would change from having one-way to two-way traffic, while Canning Street would become one-way northbound for buses, taxis and cycles only.

Parking and loading would be removed from the south side of West Maitland Street, between Torphichen Street and Haymarket.

However, previous proposals to ban cars from Grosvenor Street have been shelved.

The west side of St Andrew Square would become two-way for cars, while the east side becomes reserved mainly for trams and access traffic.

North and South St Andrew Street would be closed to cars and buses at York Place and Princes Street respectively. Parking would also be removed on both the east and west sides of the square.

At the top of Leith Walk, the Picardy Place and London Road junctions would be replaced with traffic light junctions.

Further down the street, new traffic lights would be installed at the junctions with Dalmeny Street, Springfield Street/Smith's Place and Manderston Street. Many right turns would also be prohibited along Leith Walk.

Parking and loading space would be changed. According to the council, "where possible, kerbside space will be allocated for parking and loading".

Officials said any public concerns raised by the proposed changes would be recorded and possible amendments considered later next year.

The statutory consultation follows the plans being initially displayed a year ago. Several amendments have already been made as a result, such as to loading and parking in Leith Walk.

Gordon Mackenzie, the council's transport convener, said: "The Edinburgh tram project is unique in that it already has approval to go ahead under an Act of Parliament.

"However, given that certain alterations to the road network are necessary to ensure the tram can operate, we have to revise the traffic regulations that govern our city's roads. This has been a complex process, with over four years of detailed design work undertaken to get to the stage where the tram can run to its timetable and integrate smoothly with other traffic."

Susan Clark, the tram project's deputy director, said: "We have been working in conjunction with our council colleagues to ensure the road layout design is conducive to the trams, other road users and pedestrians.

"We have been engaging over the period of the project with a wide range of user groups to ensure that their views are given serious consideration in the design process so far."

Tram stops at the west end of the city centre would be in Haymarket Terrace and Shandwick Place, between Atholl and Coates Crescent Gardens.

The single Princes Street stop would be between Hanover Street and Frederick Street, with the next ones on the east side of St Andrew Square and in Picardy Place.

The tram stops in Leith Walk would be south of McDonald Road, at Balfour Street, and at the Foot of the Walk, at the south end of Constitution Street.

Few are left happy when the road engineers tinker with set-up

ROADS engineers change Edinburgh's traffic system at their peril. Nothing is likely to spark more howls of protest in the capital than new no-entry signs, turning restrictions and parking bans.

Four years ago, officials were forced into an embarrassing U-turn to scrap their central Edinburgh traffic management scheme after it was roundly criticised, including by the council's own leader.

There was further chaos last year when tram work at the Princes Street-Mound junction started midweek – rather than at a weekend as previously – leaving traffic no time to get used to the changes.

However, the doom-mongers have not always been right, with taxi drivers' fears of gridlock with the closure of Shandwick Place last year proving unfounded. The city council and Lothian Buses, Edinburgh's main operator, have also said the diversion of buses on to George Street during the closure of Princes Street for tram line construction has run smoothly.

Like trying to keep water out of your house, traffic modelling can be a frustrating business, despite the council's fancy computer graphics which show traffic appearing to move effortlessly through the city centre. Like previous changes, the effect of this latest shake-up won't really be known until it is introduced.

A big question mark is how quickly Edinburghers will take to the trams which have triggered the traffic alterations and what effect that will have.

Equally significantly for traffic levels, where will the tram passengers come from? The trams are expected to attract 12 million people in 2012, but will these be drivers abandoning their cars or existing bus passengers? Or will the trams' apparent ease and speed just encourage people to travel more?

The changes are far less Draconian than those proposed in 2005, which made the George Street area a nightmare to drive in. Like water finding a path round a blockage, drivers are likely simply to adapt to the changes that are approved.

Parking is expected to be the most vexed issue, since it often has a direct impact on homes and businesses.

However, it may prove difficult to judge whether traders' likely claims of woe in some of the most-affected streets, such as Leith Walk, can be blamed on the restrictions, the economy or other factors.