Work has proceeded faster than expected, and York Place will now reopen to all traffic at 10.30am on Friday, weather permitting.
The news came from Alasdair Sim, Edinburgh Trams’ Interface Manager, at last night’s meeting of the New Town & Broughton Community Council.
Barring high winds, torrential rain and the wrong kind of pollen, vehicles will once again run east–west and vice-versa along the length of Queen Street. Adjacent traffic restrictions, light sequencing and temporary parking arrangements will revert to their former status over the following weeks.
Those attending the meeting greeted the announcement with enthusiasm, particularly residents of the Albany Street/Abercromby Place corridor which runs parallel and has taken much of the diverted traffic over the last 18 months.
Sim promised temporary signage to alert motorists to the change, and to emphasise that through traffic need no longer run across the ‘Second New Town’. He said revised traffic light sequencing would reinforce this message, despite temporary inconvenience to residents.
Sim also promised thorough repairs to road surfaces damaged by increased traffic flows, and said he would investigate locals’ claims that fewer parking spaces will be available to them than before the TTRO arrangements owing to the arrival of wheelie bins.
In other news, Angela Brocklebank, CEC’s City Centre Programme Manager, revealed that Lothian Buses may shift Services 10/11/12/16 from Princes Street onto George Street. The proposal is in response to delays near Marks & Spencer and the Scott Monument (where a cluster of bus stops causes congestion) and at the East End (where work on the new hotel and Apple Store has narrowed the road). The move does not relate to the Council’s City Vision which could potentially pedestrianise parts of Princes Street.