13 Edinburgh transport projects which never made it, including Princes Street motorway and bulldozing airport
Transport projects – whether it's trams, pedestrianisation or low emission zones – are almost always controversial.
But take a look at these ones which were abandoned before they were implemented. You might think some, like the hovercraft perhaps, were good ideas. Others now seem bizarre, not least the mind-blowing 1949 Abercombie plan, which would have demolished swathes of the city centre to build an inner ring road.
They offer a fascinating insight into the priorities of the past – sometimes the quite recent past – and how much thinking has changed.
They offer a fascinating insight into the priorities of the past – sometimes the quite recent past – and how much thinking has changed.
5. Edinburgh Metro
Proposals for an Edinbutgh metro date back to 1972, when Arnold Hendry, professor of civil engineering at Edinburgh University, put forward plans for a north-south, sub-surface light rail route, using the Scotland Street tunnel from Canonmills to the city centre and new tunnels south from there. In 1989, a wider £185m metro scheme, partially underground, was proposed, with an 11-mile north-south route through the city and plans for around 30 stations - each half a kilometre apart - with services running every five minutes. It was an ambitious project and it was eventually abandoned amid concerns about cost and practicality. Photo: Alan Ledgerwood
6. Abercrombie: Underground motorway in Princes Street
The 1949 Abercrombie plan for the redevelopment of Edinburgh would have changed the face of the Capital, including rebuilding Princes Street with a motorway running underneath as part of an inner ring route. It would have meant a "three tier" Princes Street - a local service road at ground level, a middle level proposed for car parking, and the motorway on the lowest level, with an open colonnade onto the gardens. Photo: Unknown
7. Abercrombie: Inner ring road
The 1949 Abercrombie plan for an inner ring route would have seen the new motorway run underneath Princes Street before linking to the top of Leith Walk, tunnelling under Calton Hill, heading through the Old Town and up through the Pleasance before cutting right across the Meadows, where it would have been elevated on concrete stilts. Photo: Unknown
8. Abercrombie: Multi-level Princes Street station
This is Princes Street station at the West End being demolished in 1969 after closing four years earlier. But under the 1949 Abercrombie plan, it would have been kept and rebuilt as a multi-level station with the inner ring road running underneath it. Princes Street station would have operated inter-city services, while Waverley would have been downgraded to serve suburban lines only. Photo: Denis Straughan