Plan for six new bridges in Edinburgh - your views online

Six new bridges – including one across the Waverley valley – could be built as part of Edinburgh’s drive to improve walking and cycling connections around the city. We asked readers for their views.
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Ella James: It would be worth it if the bricks and mortar is salvaged from Holyrood.

Dave Ward: They can't even finish the North Bridge repairs, sowhy do they think they can do new ones in a decent time?

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Emma Riley: They need to sort out all the roads that have potholes the size of craters – stop patching them up and do it properly.

​The old footbridge linking Jeffrey Street to Calton Road​The old footbridge linking Jeffrey Street to Calton Road
​The old footbridge linking Jeffrey Street to Calton Road

Robbie Craig: Well if the can spend all the money at Sheriffhall, why not. No road scheme has ever reduced congestion… just moved it and induced more demand to use the route. These pedestrian and cycle routes should be judged on the same criteria… build it, and they will come.

Anne Harris: Fiddling while Rome burns comes to mind here. No money to maintain basic services but there are vanity projects galore costing megabucks.

Mike Grant: Use the money to reopen the old tunnel from King George Park to Waverley. That would allow easy walking from the north to the south with a link over Waverley to the south. Bridges are less important than maintaining our current infrastructure to a decent standard.

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Sheila Milne: More waste of money. The priority should be the disgusting state of our roads and pavements throughout the whole of Edinburgh. It’s an embarrassment.

Diane Marie Rasmussen: Please don’t talk to me about a single new project until the Roseburn mess is fixed – and before anyone jumps on me about getting rid of cars, I want to point out that cycles and buses are affected by it as well, especially when it's down to a single lane for both directions. Every day, I see maybe two-thirds of the roadworks staff there standing around staring into space while the rest of us are wasting resources just waiting in massive queues.

Graeme Robertson: Ah yes – a walking/cycling bridge over Waverley. I assume that some of the people behind this have walked up the Bridges and witnessed the gale force winds there. If it was not for the hefty parapets on either side everything and everyone would be blasted away. Some pie in the sky flimsy walk/cycle way would never stand up to our weather.

‘We need a break from constant upheaval’

Iain Fisher: The council only last year redid their budget which puts them significantly at risk of bankruptcy with their billion pound rebaselining of debt. Yet they have money to fund non-essential services and insane capital projects, effectively printing money. Cut your cloth accordingly. Fix the current issues first and that will generate income and tax receipts for the city which reduces the debt burden. It’s not rocket science but this lot seem to be short of oxygen.

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Steve Taylor: There was a bridge there for many years from Jeffrey Street to Calton Road. It would be great to see that one reinstated.

Stephanie Fallon: Walking around Edinburgh is not an issue. Do they have a yearly internal competition to see which department can waste the most money?

Catherine Ross: The trams are enough of a shambles – so let’s make it worse by building bridges. Who thinks these things up? The people of Edinburgh need a break from the constant upheaval of roadworks and buses changing routes every week.

Chris Kirkland: Are they bridging over the potholes? You need a couple on Fountainbridge as it’s a complete disgrace of a road.

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John Gray: Sound like a good idea. The original cost will be £500 million. It will end up costing £1.5 billion. Half of them will be unfit for purpose and the other half will be useless in the winter due to falling ice.

Gregory Dimeck: Sounds like a fab idea! As a cyclist and an occasional car user it’s worth noting that no-one would like the pot-holes fixed more than the cyclists. Most holes seem to be by the side of the road, forcing us into traffic.

Tony Foley: It would be better to build bridges with the people of the city before just doing work with no consultation.

Alan Brown: 19th century trams are so 2011. We’ve moved on from that now. Golden turds and shoogly bridges are what it’s all about nowadays.

John Davis: Six more unmaintained bridges that’ll need millions spent on them in 20 years’ time. Great idea.

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