In a deputation to the Transport & Environment Cmte last week, the Community Councils Together for Trams Group (CCTTG) raised safety issues about the design of future public realm in Elm Row (east side, London Rd–Montgomery St) for pedestrians and cyclists.*
CCTTG (represented on Thursday by Leith Central Community Council’s Harald Tobermann and New Town & Broughton CC’s Mike Birch) describes itself as a critical friend of the Tram Project.
On Thursday last week, a tram reached York Place for the first time since 10 February – but just to test the newly reconfigured track.
Accompanied by dozens of tram contractors, the tram took the better part of an hour to inch its way from halfway along York Place to the current end of the tram line: a large planter at the top of Broughton Street. At points along the way, contractors measured the distances from the overhead line poles and the central reservation to crucial parts of the tram.
Twenty-eight people attended last night’s online meeting held by the Better Broughton group to discuss the future of Picardy Place.
Among them were three City Centre councillors: Karen Doran (vice-convener of the Transport & Environment Cmte), Joanna Mowat, and Claire Miller.
A new phase of work in the Trams to Broughton project starts on Monday, 11 October.
As before, one line of traffic will run towards Leith from York Place.
But instead of a roundabout, there will now be a junction to go left into Gayfield Square, straight ahead down Leith Walk, or right into London Road.
Traffic will NOT be able to turn right out of London Road along Leith Walk. Anyone wishing to access Leith will have first to turn left and go up round the temporary construction site at Picardy Place before heading north.
The pulley wheel shown in the photo here has emerged from recent tramwork excavations on Leith Walk.
Archaeologists will determine its significance, but to Spurtle observers it looks like evidence of the former cable-drawn Edinburgh tram system.
From 1899, it ran as far north as Pilrig Street, whereupon passengers would transfer to the more efficient electrically powered trams operated by Leith Town Council.
Much heavy traffic, including buses, has been diverted along Leopold Pl during Leith Walk tramworks. The resulting damage to the carriageway is causing troublesome vibration for residents.
Living at the border of both community council areas and Council wards, these locals have had trouble gaining the attention of officials.
Their homes are in Leith Walk ward, but the road outside is in the City Centre. Neither the Tram Team nor the Council’s Diversion Team have been keen to tackle the problem.
The condition of East London St seems to be deteriorating fast now that, post-lockdown, more heavy vehicles are using the route to avoid tramworks and northbound closures on Leith Walk.
Associated problems of noise and vibration prompted one resident to contact Lothian Buses, asking whether it had strayed from an agreement reached in November to limit the number of not-in-service vehicles using East London Street to 20 westbound and 5 eastbound between 7am and 7pm.
Spurtle has recently been contacted by Hiyacar. The ‘peer to peer’ car club operator has just introduced 15 vehicles to Edinburgh, five of them in Spurtleshire and one just the other side of Leith Walk.
The idea is that you book a car online, and then go to a private address near you to pick it up. Each one comes with a Quickstart interface, meaning you don’t have to deal with a troublesome or disease-ridden human being.
The regeneration of George Street’s public realm has entered a new phase with the launch of a final Concept Design. The plans are available for scrutiny on the Council website here (use the menu toggle top-right for more detail). There’s a virtual helicopter ride here.
The proposals are budgeted at £32M, with £20M coming from Transport Scotland via Sustrans.
This morning we woke to a third day of miserable damp gloom.
It may seem grim. But Edinburgh has known worse.
The following article is extracted from a longer piece published in the Scotsman on 16 November 1929 – the day after weather conditions had combined with smoke from coal fires to spectacular effect.
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