Answers to the £17m question​​​​​​​ - John McLellan

Well, maybe not everyone. I’ve been sceptical about the value it will bring, so I took a ride this week to give it a go. Open mind and all that and I have to say it’s very good.

Three bridges now link up Russell Road with Dundee Street, the pathway snaking around an impressive play park complete with basketball court and exciting climbing frames.

More importantly, it provides an easier route from Murrayfield to one of my favourite after-match haunts, the Fountain, certainly for those in the know.

But the £17 million question is whether it genuinely represents value for money, amid all the other demands faced by the public purse.

Yes, around £10 million came from the Scottish Government, but it’s all taxpayers’ money and I can’t help but feel the number of people who will benefit regularly is disproportionate to the cost.

Will it encourage more people to cycle? I doubt it, because it’s only a leisure facility which doesn’t link retail or business centres. If you cycle for fun, then great, otherwise it’s a very grandiose access to the playpark which only families in the very immediate area will use.

It was a freezing lunchtime when I went round and apart from workers carrying out snagging, but even so I only counted one cyclist, three pedestrians and a dog. From that point alone, the demand for a £17 million facility was hardly pent up.