Next phase of Edinburgh's tram extension project about to get under way

Work will start on setting up the site for the next phase of the Trams to Newhaven project this weekend.

Traffic management arrangements will be in place from Monday January 4 as work begins on Ocean Drive between Rennie’s Isle and Ocean Terminal.

Construction works on this part of the project are scheduled to be completed by autumn 2021.

The project closed down for Christmas on December 18 and is starting up again on January 4.

Work will also begin on the area outside Stevedore Place on January 18, clearing utilities and laying tracks, ducting and drainage.

The Covid pandemic forced a three-month halt to work in March, but excavation and utility clearance has now been completed on the Newhaven to Melrose Drive section, which has now been handed over to infrastructure and systems contractor SFN, who will undertake the main tram infrastructure works including the Lindsay Road retaining wall and the lowering of Lindsay Road.

Excavations next to South Leith Parish Church graveyard have now been completed and the most complex utility diversions on the route were completed at the Baltic Street Junction. Inbound and outbound rail has been installed between Constitution Place and Baltic Street.

And in November the project reached a key milestone at Ocean Terminal with the first tram track on the route being installed.

The tram extension project was closed down for three months due to Covid

Main construction works began on Leith Walk in June, with the establishment of the construction site from London Road to Crown Place. Excavation and utility clearance has now been completed on 60 per cent of Leith Walk.

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