Budget boost expected for capital’s roads and paths

A DOUBLING of Edinburgh’s roads, paths and cycleways repair and improvement budget is expected to be approved tomorrow.

Members of the city’s transport and environment committee are being asked to back a full council decision in February to allocate a provisional £11m extra to the roads and paths budget.

And should – as anticipated – the proposed increase be approved, it would see the total roads and infrastructure budget for 2023-24 ramping up to £21.78m.

A council announcement (here) declares the proposal, if approved, as the “biggest spend on improvement projects in almost a decade”.

Continues the announcement: “A proposed £11m investment in roads will significantly increase the number of carriageway renewal schemes carried out over the next year, helping to slow deterioration and improve network condition.

“These schemes have been prioritised to the areas based on agreed criteria and weighting. As part of this, an additional five per cent is applied to roads on the cycle network, promoting renewal schemes most used by cyclists. Edinburgh is the only local authority in Scotland to include such a weighting.

“This is alongside a recommended increased £3m budget for footpaths and pavements and a further £500k to resurface rural and residential footways that would otherwise be low priority. As well as resurfacing, improvements can include measures like dropped kerbs and widening footway widths where required.”

Picture credit: Place Design Scotland

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