The City of Edinburgh Council has announced a record funding boost that will see the biggest spend on improvements to the Scottish capital’s roads and infrastructure projects in nearly a decade.
The Roads and Infrastructure Investment – Capital Delivery Priorities for 2024/25 report allocates an additional £12.5m approved in February as part of the council’s budget-setting process.
The additional funding will be used to improve the road conditions, pavements and improve paths, and is part of the council’s capital budget allocated across six different workstreams, including: road operations and structures, street lighting and traffic signals, carriageways and footways.
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Other areas for investment are street lighting and traffic signals, for which £1.12m is being proposed for upgrades, and the city’s 3,366 bridges and road structures – £845,000 has been set aside for their maintenance, in addition to the major North Bridge refurbishment project, which is due to complete in 2025.
The extra investment brings the total roads and infrastructure capital budget to £22.98m.
The schemes have been prioritised to the areas based on agreed criteria and weighting, with 5% applied to roads on the cycle network, promoting renewal schemes most used by cyclists.
Edinburgh is reportedly the only local authority in Scotland to include such a weighting.
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The City of Edinburgh Council’s transport and environment convener, Scott Arthur, said: “In total, we will resurface over 400,000 square metres of roads and footpaths.
“Additionally, will spend £500,000 on reinforcing the carriageway at bus stops and will double our spending on dropping kerbs.
“This funding builds on last year’s record spend of £11m, which saw improvements to more square metres of roads and pavements than in any other financial year.
“Residents have shared their concerns regarding the state of our roads and footpaths, and we have listened. We need to get the basics right, and this intensive programme of investment is essential for a safe, usable network.
“While we won’t get footpaths and roads back to where we want them to be in one year, this investment will help get out capital back on track. Indeed, we hope to maintain this level of activity for at least three years.”
Achievements and innovations in road maintenance and transport planning will be celebrated at the third annual CiTTi Awards, which will be held on 26 November 2024 at De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Nominations are open now! Please visit www.cittiawards.co.uk to learn more about this unmissable event for the UK’s transportation sector.
