A few people have been in touch about the Council’s plan to resurface Lothian Road whilst George IV Bridge is closed due to the recent fire. I have ask Council Officers about this as Lothian Road is used by a number of bus services serving my Ward, some of which are already being delayed by the Braid/Comiston Road Spaces for People scheme (this is under review, but I spotted no problems today). The response from Officers on the resurfacing plans is below.

Lothian Road Resurfacing Works
Firstly I can confirm that we are well aware of the issues at George IV Bridge and have been working with the Network Management team to determine a way forward.

It’s not simply a question of postponing the works. As the work is being undertaken by a third-party contractor there would be a cost involved in rescheduling the works, possibly requiring us to go back out to tender and delaying the work by several weeks.

I am pleased to report, however, that we have been in discussion with the contractor over the last couple of days and have determined a way to reconfigure the work to enable us to delay the introduction of the proposed temporary traffic lights at the Fountainbridge/East Fountainbridge junction which were planned to be in place from Monday 6 September. This will mitigate the impact of the work in the short term.

We are now looking at implementing them at some stage week commencing 13 September instead, when the situation at George IV Bridge will hopefully be clearer.

The work at Lothian Road next week will concentrate on the removal of the existing Spaces for People measures on Earl Grey Street along with gully replacement works which will require only a single lane closure. Lothian Buses have been involved in these discussions and are supportive of the revised proposals.

We will continue to monitor the situation over the forthcoming days and weeks.