Rather than trying to summarise or paraphrase this information, we are passing it on to local residents exactly as it came to us from City of Edinburgh Council, with thanks to Steven Blacklaw for keeping us posted so comprehensively.
At present we are having to tentatively work around each side of the junction while the old roundabout remains in place.
The roundabout cannot currently be removed while we wait for Scottish Power to disconnect the lighting column located in the middle of the roundabout. We are pushing them every day to confirm a date to carry pout the disconnection.
As such the roundabout cannot be removed at present which means we cannot construct the new kerb line on the northside in front of the former Leith academy building. So we have been tentatively working around the other corners while trying to maintain space for normal traffic while the existing roundabout is in place.
With regards progress, we have almost completed the footway works outside the shops on Duke Street. The final piece of that puzzle will be to remove the old pedestrian crossing once the new traffic lights are installed, and complete the kerbing and slabbing work outside Bombay Spice.
The contractor is currently working at the foot of Lochend Road and will complete the new kerb line and resurface the footway this week before removing the old pedestrian island and widening and resurfacing the footway up towards the corner of Burns Street.
Over on Vanburgh Place, the new bus shelter has been installed and once the new traffic lights have been installed we will remove the existing pedestrian crossing (the equipment will be recycled at another location) and create the new bus stop lay-by.
At the same time we hope to have the roundabout removed (replacing it with cones so that cars can continue to use it as a roundabout for a while longer) and start the new kerb line and slabbing outside the former Leith Academy which will start to completely reshape the junction. As such there will come a time when the junction can no longer operate as a roundabout and we will require temporary traffic lights at some point in October however we hope to keep this as short a time as possible. Siemens will take approximately 1 week to install the new traffic signals so I would hope its not much longer that 1 week of temporary traffic lights.
I estimate around another 3 weeks before the new traffic lights are installed at the junction and we start to see something near completion.
Once the new lights are operational, we will remove the double pedestrian crossing on Easter Road and a new pedestrian refuge island will be installed in its place.
The whole junction and the approaches will all be resurfaced over 2/3 nights which will require temporary traffic lights but I hope to do this before the new permanent traffic lights are operational so that we only have 1 period of temporary traffic lights (instead of temporary lights, new permanent lights installed, then back to temporary lights again for a few nights).
Once the contractor has left site, I will arrange for the current site compound to be resurfaced and we will look into contacting an artists about some artwork on the surface to improve the visual aspect of the park entrance from Vanburgh Place. Transport for Edinburgh (who manage the Just East Cycles contract) have been in touch about locating a bike hire station in the area again once works are complete – this time on Duke Street outside the former Leith Academy in an area less secluded to avoid a repeat of the previous vandalism.
We have had contact about rehoming the plants and once we have a date for removing the roundabout I will contact these people again to arrange rehoming the plants. Tree pits are still proposed for the footway outside the former Leith Academy and I will try and bring in some of the Corten steel planters from Leith Walk once they become available in October. We can perhaps discuss suitable locations for these once all the new footway works are complete.
Finally, the resurfacing of Easter Road will commence on October 1st under nightshift working. The work will be carried out in phases from Duke Street towards London Road over the course of around 3 weeks but hopefully closer to 2 weeks.
Let me know if there are any issues or questions
Kind regards, Steven
from Steven Blacklaw ¦ Engineer – Transport Design & Delivery
Place ¦ Planning & Transport ¦ The City of Edinburgh Council
G4, Waverley Court, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh EH8 8BG
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n the street in your neighbourhood, looking at something you think is being done badly – or could be done better – and scratching your head and thinking: “Now why are they doing that like that? Who the hell’s idea was it? And who are they anyway? Where is the department of joined-up thinking when you need them? And how come it’s the first we’ve ever heard about it?”
