Sheriffhall flyover plan should not fall foul of move towards environmentally friendly travel – John McLellan

Just past the Lasswade junction and the crawl began. After joining the convoy of trucks and vans, I’ve no idea how long it took to cross the Sheriffhall roundabout on an otherwise unremarkable Monday afternoon, but it was slow.

An artist's impression of the proposed Sheriffhall roundabout flyover

It’s been over six years since the Edinburgh Region City Deal was first mooted and the upgrade of the roundabout quickly featured, and even though it was included when the agreement was signed off four years ago nothing has happened.

Even though the budget for the city bypass flyover is now estimated to be around £116 million, that’s still within the earmarked £120m Scottish government fund, but it’s become a political totem for the anti-growth Greens, and is no doubt an example for what the Transform Scotland lobby group’s director Colin Howden this week called an “out-of-control road-building programme”.

The argument against all road building is it encourages driving when vehicles are responsible for most greenhouse gasses in Scotland, but the problem with Sheriffhall is that public transport is also snarled up and people just try to find ways round it or, as I did, just sit in the jams.

Bypass congestion is so bad that a new junction won’t make significantly more people decide to drive along it, but it will improve public transport from Midlothian and make the cycle route to the Royal Infirmary safer.

“We urgently need to switch investment from high-carbon roads into zero-emission public transport and active travel,” said Mr Howden. Sure, and that’s part of the Sheriffhall plan too. Let’s get on with it.

John McLellan is a Conservative councillor for Craigentinny/Duddingston

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