Stakeholder Update 106
Leith Programme Phase 4 (Pilrig Street to McDonald Road)
Leith Programme Phase 4 is currently observing the Edinburgh Festival embargo on road works within the city and, as such, has now demobilised fully from Leith Walk and Iona Street. The Contractor will return to site to re-mobilise and commence the remaining works as of Monday 28th August. Works will include completion of remaining footpath paving at Brunswick Street, and the Leith Walk road resurfacing from Iona Street to Brunswick Street, including construction of the raised tables at the junctions of Iona, Albert and Brunswick Street, with any remaining ancillary works, ie. installation of bicycle stands, also being carried out. Works will also include the implementation of the 2-stage right turn for cyclists at the McDonald Road/Brunswick Road junction, and putting into use the segregated cycleway, for which the Council will be carrying out a focussed communications campaign to provide advice on the use of, and the behaviours associated with, these new elements of the street. It is anticipated that remaining works will take 10 weeks, with traffic management and road closures implemented as required. On recommencement of the project works, the Leith Programme team will continue with the weekly project updates to be issued to all stakeholders with details of the ongoing works.
Tram to Newhaven
Further to the Councils decision in 2015 to investigate the feasibility of taking Edinburgh Tram to Newhaven, a report will be going to Transport and Environment Committee on 4 September 2017 and then to full Council on 21 September 2017 on the suggested way forward.
The report will give details of the Outline Business Case (OBC) for taking Edinburgh Tram to Newhaven and seek authority from full Council on 21 September 2017 to enter into a procurement exercise to identify a potential contractor for the project. A final decision on whether to proceed and, with which contractor, would be made in Autumn 2018 by Council. The report will be made public on the City of Edinburgh Council website on Tuesday 29 August 2017.
As such, a request has been made to the Scottish Government to sist (put on hold) the Phase 5 Public Hearing until this decision is made, while any further design/consultation work in regards to Phase 6 has also been stopped at this time. In the event Tram goes ahead, the remaining Leith Programme works will be incorporated into the Tram to Newhaven project. Phase 4 of the Leith Programme (Pilrig Street to McDonald Road) will continue, and will be completed by October 2017.
If the project goes ahead the construction will take approximately 3 years and will be open to the public by between April - June 2022. Once phase 4 of the Leith Programme is finished in October 2017 there will be no non-emergency works on Leith Walk until Spring 2019. The estimated cost of the project including construction costs, risk and inflation is £165.2m. The proposed route goes down Leith Walk and Constitution Street, Ocean Way and along Ocean Drive to Ocean Terminal and beyond. Currently over six million people use the Tram and by taking it to Leith the OBC forecasts this to increase to 13 million. Lothian Buses is also projected to continue to perform strongly.