WHEN the closure of the Canongate for resurfacing work was announced last week, the Evening News said that on top of everything else that was happening on the city centre roads, the best advice was for drivers to stay away from the city centre.
We urged those used to taking their cars into the middle of town to forget it and try public transport instead. Yesterday, after the tram work started in earnest on Princes Street at The Mound the chaos which ensued was probably the worst in Edinburg
h's history.
Our advice that people should take to the buses turned out to be rather useless as the disruption added an hour to some journeys. An hour on to a journey in a city the size of Edinburgh must surely be some sort of record – Irish pilgrims climbing Croagh Patrick on their knees move faster than that.
The traffic managers working for the city council and TIE who devised the diversions have surpassed themselves this time and yesterday's nightmare on George Street makes the choking snarl-ups at the Foot of the Walk look like the Monaco Grand Prix by comparison.
Thankfully action has already been taken in an attempt to alleviate the situation, but only the implementation today will show whether or not the changes have been successful. Even so, there is only so much difference any alterations can make and with more traffic diverted on to George Street delays of some scale are inevitable.
The message remains that for private drivers the city centre is simply a no-go area. Those making unnecessary journeys can expect to be gridlocked at every junction and should also accept that their very presence is adding to the congestion.
What the city plans to do about the situation and how traders can deal with it is anyone's guess. If the big luxury stores like Harvey Nichols are beginning to feel the effect of the credit crunch so the impact of both the banking crisis and the roads chaos on smaller traders could be immense.
There needs to be an urgent meeting of everyone with an interest in the health of the city centre to thrash out exactly what can be done before it is too late. This Christmas promises to be one of the toughest for businesses in living memory and those needing strong seasonal trade to survive the fallow months in the New Year must be viewing what is happening with fear and alarm.
Edinburgh will benefit from trams in the long run, but the pain experienced yesterday was unacceptable. TIE is confident that the tide will begin to turn in January when most of the utilities work will be completed and the infrastructure work begins in earnest. Let's hope it is right.
