A NEW direct road link from the M8 to Edinburgh Airport is back on the cards, according to a blueprint for the west of the city due out today.
The Evening News understands that a revised masterplan for the west of the city will recognise the need for new road capacity in the area.
Plans for the half-mile motorway link to the airport were ruled out in the last draft of the West Edinburgh Planning Framework, published in 2006, when officials from the then Scottish Executive said it would have virtually no impact on traffic levels.
However, the revised framework calls for a full assessment of the transport needs in the area, though stops short of committing to any specific schemes.
It is also understood the new planning framework will back Edinburgh Airport's plans to double in size by 2030 by safeguarding land around the airport for expansion.
Motoring and airport chiefs today welcomed the latest revision of the planning framework.
Neil Greig, head of policy in Scotland for the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: "The M8 link is definitely one they need to look at again.
"The trams will make a difference for travel to the airport but we still need a good roads network serving the airport.
"If you look at the whole stretch around the Gogar Roundabout, the traffic is just getting worse and anything that can relieve congestion around there is to be welcomed.
"It is just a short stretch of road and it could also open up opportunities to make more of the park-and-ride at Ingliston and the tram line itself."
In August last year it emerged that civil servants "forgot" about the massive RBS headquarters at Gogarburn when they first dismissed proposals for the M8 link road. Officials rejected the plan after judging that it would have virtually no impact on traffic levels.
But it emerged that the decision failed to take into account the 90-acre RBS site, which opened in 2005, and plans for other major developments nearby.
The initial calculations made by the officials suggested the proposed link road would cut congestion in the area by just one per cent.
However, revised predictions – taking into account the Royal Bank HQ and the other expected development in the area – show it is likely to cut traffic levels by 14 per cent.
Improving the single road access is a high priority for airport bosses, given the current problems with tailbacks at busy times. If an M8 link does go ahead then it is thought the new road, which has still to be priced, would go between the Claylands and Hermiston junctions on the M8 north to the A8, somewhere between the airport and the RBS HQ.
City transport leader Phil Wheeler backed the argument for another link to the airport.
"The tram will be a new public transport offering, but given the state of the present road link, it makes sense to look at augmenting that," he said.
A Scottish Government spokesman said full details of the planning framework would be unveiled today.
•
www.edinburghairport.comThe full article contains 525 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
