£750k bill to tackle notorious bottleneck near Cameron Toll

IT MAY prove to be one of the most expensive bus lanes ever built – but also the most useful.

Transport bosses are set to spend more than £750,000 on a lane measuring just a few hundred yards to solve one of the Capital's worst bottlenecks.

The new segregated busway will run along Old Dalkeith Road heading towards Cameron Toll, one of the city's worst traffic pinch points.

The project is part of a £2 million programme of improvements to cut congestion in the south-east of the city.

The busway, which will run from the junction of Walter Scott Avenue to a bus stop on Cameron Toll roundabout, will be built at the side of the existing road. The current bus lane will be turned into a new lane for cars and other traffic.

The council says the scheme – set to be rubber-stamped at a meeting of the council's transport committee meeting this month – would allow the 30 buses an hour which pass through Cameron Toll to bypass the roundabout's traffic lights, cutting journey times and improving traffic flows.

A council spokesman said: "To help promote economic growth and regeneration in south-east Edinburgh, there is a pressing need for new public transport infrastructure to meet the demand generated by new developments.

"These proposals would improve bus service reliability and journey times, while also significantly enhancing cycling facilities."

Not everyone has welcomed the plans, however.

Dougie Barnett, 54, a local objector who is set to lose his on-street parking space, said the current bus lane was coping fine.

He said: "At no time of the day is there ever a queue of buses. I feel this is a ridiculous waste of council money. They could just put a slip road in much closer to Cameron Toll and save the council tax-payer hundreds of thousands of pounds."

Local councillor Ian Murray also branded the scheme "unnecessary" and said he would be urging officials to drop it altogether.

"It has become apparent that the £750,000 to save 20 seconds of a bus journey could be better spent," he said.

The council last year approved a series of schemes in the south of the city, including bus lanes along Lady Road and between Cameron Toll and Niddrie. There will also be new lanes at The Wisp, Liberton Road and at Newcraighall park and ride.