New road safety works begin on Leith Walk this week

Work gets underway this week to improve safety at various locations on Leith Walk, including what is believed to be the first installation in Scotland of a particular kind of cycleway delineators.  

Already a familiar sight in a number of cities including London, the new features, which consist of short stretches of kerbs laid back-to-back, with collapsible/reboundable bollards between them, have been selected following consultation with representatives of the local community and pedestrian and cycling organisations.

The ‘armadillo’ delineators previously installed were removed, following a trial period, as they were deemed unfit for purpose at this location.

The new ones will be put in place at locations on the east and west side of Leith Walk at Pilrig Street and the east side of Leith Walk at Brunswick Road. This work is being carried out by MacKenzie Construction. In addition to these new delineators, Leith Programme Phase 4 contractor Crummock will carry out a series of remedial works to road surfacing defects, road gullies/manholes and additional safety markings to the cycleway.

Transport Convener Councillor Lesley Macinnes said: “We want to make sure our roads are as safe as they possibly can be for everyone who uses them, which is why we’ve worked very hard with the community and walking and cycling organisations to find the right solution to replace the armadillos. Similar cycleway delineators have been successfully used in other cycle-friendly cities and we’re confident they’ll work well on Leith Walk.”

The same traffic management sub-contractor will be used in order to coordinate the works and to minimise traffic disruption while these works are ongoing.

The Programme of construction works will be as follows:

• 18^th April – 20^th April: Crummock undertaking remedial works to road surfacing defect on the northbound lane at Pilrig Street junction
• 23rd April – 4^th May: MacKenzie Construction undertaking works to install cycleway delineators at the locations noted above
• 23rd April – 4^th May: (for a period of up to 2 weeks) Crummock undertaking further defect remedial works at various locations between Iona Street and Brunswick Street