£19m list to pave way for repairs on roads

Published on Wednesday 29 April 2009 09:53

TRANSPORT bosses have outlined a £19 million to-do list of road and pavement repairs across the Capital over the next year.

The list of spending priorities includes awarding 100,000 to each of the city's 12 neighbourhood partnerships to tackle potholes and residential road repairs.

There is also 750,000 for improvements to the pavement in Leith Walk as part of the tram project.

But road chiefs have agreed to focus their efforts on residential streets due to the already "exceptional" level of roadworks in the city centre as a result of tram project.

Works which cannot be carried out without causing significant levels of disruption have been postponed until after the tram system is up and running.

In a report due to go before the council's transport committee next week, it is noted that there is a "significant backlog" of repairs required on the city's roads.

Neil Greig, of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said it made sense for the council to concentrate on residential roads while the tram works were ongoing.

He said: "There is very little space on the already congested and difficult-to-navigate roads in Edinburgh city centre.

"Any more roadworks on these routes would just add to the chaos."

He added: "If you look at the few statistics we have for the state of Scotland's roads, it tends to be rural and minor roads that have the worst problems. Any start to catching up with the backlog is good news,"

But David Legge, of the Association of British Drivers, said road bosses should not use the tram works as a way of dropping work on arterial routes.

He said: "This approach seems to make sense as long as it's not an excuse for cancelling the major works altogether."

The council said the level of funding for road repairs would remain at 19m next year, before falling to 15.6m in 2011/12 and 2012/13.

The budget for road and footpath repairs has risen steadily in recent years, reaching a high of 20m last year.

The level of investment as recently as the period 2004/05 was a low as 4m.

Last year, councillors agreed to "reprofile" investment in roads over the next five years, delaying some schemes in the city centre, or on arterial routes, until the end of the tram project.

The council said it expects to resurface an estimated 135,000 square metres of road this year, compared with 90,000 sq m last year.

City environment leader Councillor Robert Aldridge, said: "We have taken on board the views of the public and have reprioritised our city centre schemes, focusing our attention, and investment, on residential and suburban areas.

"This approach has paved the way for the success of our ongoing local roads programme, to which the public's response so far has been fantastic.

"After all, you can't argue with 94 per cent customer satisfaction."