Diversions to be axed amid trams dispute

Published on Tuesday 30 March 2010 10:04

TRAMWORKS diversions in the city centre are to be lifted until the dispute with contractors is resolved.

Work to move underground pipes and cables – which should have finished at the end of 2008 – has now been completed. But track laying on the 545 million project has been put on hold due to the ongoing disagreements between tram firm TIE and the construction consortium.

Traffic diversions around Haymarket will be removed, allowing eastbound traffic to travel through Haymarket. Barriers restricting pedestrian movement at Haymarket will also be removed, it was reported today.

Shandwick Place will also be reopened for westbound buses and taxis, removing a detour via the Western Approach Road.

And on Leith Walk, barriers along the central reservation will be taken away, making it easier to cross the road between Picardy Place and London Road, and down to the Foot of the Walk.

TIE chief executive Richard Jeffrey said: "It is unacceptable the public in Edinburgh are disrupted unnecessarily, and these revised arrangements will at least give breathing space while negotiations with the consortium remain ongoing."

However, diversions at the west end of Princes Street between Lothian Road and Charlotte Square will remain, and North and South St Andrew Street.