CONTRACTORS have been hired to power-wash hundreds of traffic cones being used for city centre roadworks, it emerged today.
The cones are being cleaned by specialist contractors employed by tram firm TIE to keep tidy areas of the city being dug up for the £498 million project.
Cones for diverting traffic on Princes Street were among the first to be given the spring clean.
Contractors were seen driving west along Princes Street, cleaning one side of the line of cones with the powerful jets, before turning around and tackling the other side.
A passing American tourist was so amused by the scene that he took a picture and later gave a copy to Jenners' commissionaire David Brown.
Mr Brown said passing shoppers found the cleaning process quite amusing, particularly given the cones were dirty again within half-an-hour because of dust and fumes sticking to the wet cones.
It is standard industry practice for roads contractors to ensure cones are kept clean during works in order that their reflective parts are clearly seen.
Tram bosses today insisted that the cleaning was a safety measure as part of its overall traffic management contract with operator Class One. Opposition politicians, however, were quick to question the need to spend taxpayers' money on cone cleaning. Mr Brown, 67, said: "I have been a driver for 53 years now and I've never seen anything like it.
"It had the look and feel of a spoof, like some sort of student prank. People were stopping to watch and most of them looked a little bemused."
The picture was taken last Thursday at 11.30am. There is currently work on Princes Street from Frederick Street westwards, as well as telecoms diversionary work in neighbouring St Andrew Square.
Details of the remaining tram disruption for Princes Street, which is likely to include a temporary closure, are set to be released in April.
Councillor Mark McInnes, the city's Tory transport spokesman, said: "I think questions have to be asked as to whether cleaning traffic cones is a good use of taxpayers money. Particularly when that money could be used to support the dozens of businesses struggling to cope with the knock-on effects of all the disruption."
Graeme Barclay, TIE's construction director, said: "We carry out routine maintenance of the cones and other traffic management measures, including inspection and cleaning, as a matter of course across all of our sites."
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