DRIVERS and bus passengers are being warned to brace themselves for months of chaos with diversions starting tomorrow for tram works.
Shandwick Place will be shut for five months from tomorrow as part of work for the £498 million tram line with a series of major road diversions put in place.
Dozens of bus services will be affected by the move, with passengers having to get used to alighting at temporary stops.
A squad of around 70 tram staff will be working over the weekend to put the final touches to diversions. All traffic travelling west from Princes Street will be directed up Lothian Road and on to the West Approach Road, while cars and buses heading from Haymarket towards the city centre will be re-routed along Melville Street.
Police motorbike patrols on the diversion routes will start tomorrow morning, aimed at trying to keep traffic moving during the first few days and assisting with any breakdowns.
A team from tram firm TIE will also be on hand to ensure shops get access for their deliveries.
Thirteen bus stops will be closed on and around Shandwick Place and replaced by 12 temporary stops dotted along the diversion routes. A further 11 stops in the city centre will have their normal services changed.
Transport and police chiefs today said every effort would be made to ensure the Capital keeps moving. But motorists’ groups, taxi bosses and business leaders all warned of big disruption in the city centre.
Murray Fleming, secretary of Central Radio Cabs, said: “It will clearly have a significant impact. This is a main artery into the city. To suggest that journeys will run as normal would be fanciful.”
The 19-week closure of Shandwick Place will see parking on Melville Street temporarily removed to accommodate the extra traffic from the eastbound diversion. Buses will go around Charlotte Square, with some services going along George Street, while all other traffic will be diverted along Queensferry Street and Randolph Crescent to join up with Queen Street.
There will also be work on Princes Street from Frederick Street westwards and telecoms diversionary work in St Andrew Square. This phase of the project is scheduled to be completed by the start of the Edinburgh Festival in August.
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.”
A total of 136 parking spaces have been lost, mainly on Melville Street, as a result of the diversions.
Graham Russell, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses Edinburgh, said as well as traders on Shandwick Place, those on adjacent streets such as Stafford Street would also be hit by the works.
He said: “The planning that has gone into the Shandwick Place closure by TIE has been far more thorough than in Leith Walk.
“Traders are worried. It’s a big unknown. Inevitably there will be an impact, but hopefully it will be minimised.”
As first predicted in the News in July, Shandwick Place will be only open for trams and buses when the tram work is finished.
Other major changes include replacing the roundabout at the top of Leith Walk with a T-junction and reopening Torphichen Street to traffic in both directions. Constitution Street will be partially closed to accommodate the trams.
A Lothian Buses spokesman said they had taken steps to try to mitigate the worst of the disruption. He said: “We have the latest information on the Shandwick Place tram works available on our website. We have information on all of our buses along with leaflets detailing exactly how city centre bus services will be affected.
“Where bus stops are affected, our bus stop team have placed yellow panels detailing the alternative stopping arrangements.
“From the commencement of the works our staff will be around the affected areas making sure everything runs smoothly.”
Details of the remaining tram disruption, which is likely to include a complete temporary closure of Princes Street, and the final design of the tram route, are set to be released in April – two months later than planned.
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.”
The full programme of tram roadworks will take more than three years to complete and involves digging up the roads twice – first to move water and gas pipes then to build the tram lines, stops and overhead wires.
The underground pipes and cables are being moved so they can be accessed without disrupting trams, which are due to start running between Edinburgh and its airport in three years’ time.
A police spokeswoman said: “Congestion is expected on the diversion routes for the duration of the tram works. To cut down on the volume of traffic and to ease this, we would encourage commuters to make use of public transport where possible.
“Alternatively, people in vehicles should try to avoid the area. Motorcycle patrols will operate in the first few days to help ensure traffic is flowing freely.”
Councillor Phil Wheeler, the city’s transport leader, added: “While some disruption is inevitable, every effort is being made to keep it to a minimum.
“Members of the public can help by planning their journeys in advance using information about traffic diversions at
www.edinburgh.gov.uk and on the Lothian Buses website.”
. . and parking charges are going up tooDRIVERS are to be hit with inflation-busting increases in pay-and-display parking charges across the city.
Streets in much of the central controlled parking zone, in areas such as Tollcross and parts of the New Town, will see charges rise from £1.60 to £2.00 an hour.
The newly-installed peripheral parking zones, such as Marchmont and Morningside, will see prices jump from £1.00 to £1.20 an hour.
Last December, the News revealed city leaders were to increase the cost of parking in prime city centre streets, such as George Street, from £1.80 to £2.00 an hour.
Bruce Young, Lothian and Borders co-ordinator of the Association of British Drivers, said: "The council is putting up the parking charges simply because it is an easy target.
"I think people are already only going into the city centre with their cars if they feel they really need to.
"This is only going to make people think twice about going into town and instead head to the out-of-town shopping centres."
The council provides about 12,000 on-street parking spaces in Edinburgh – 6500 residential parking bays and 5500 pay-and-display spaces.
Councillor Phil Wheeler, the city's transport leader, said: "While price rises are never going to be popular, this is the first time in several years that parking charges have been increased. They are still competitive for a capital city and other major UK cities such as Glasgow.
"There is an incredibly high demand for parking, with an increasing number of people trying to park in a limited number of spaces.
"One way of managing this is to encourage drivers to leave their cars at home and to use the excellent public transport network of buses and park-and-ride facilities.
"However, we know that some drivers will still need to use their cars and we realise the importance to the local economy of providing a choice between public and private transport.
"The charging structure is an important element of the strategy to ensure that there is a regular turnover of spaces."
The full article contains 1416 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
