Keeping road network on the right track
Transport
Looking after the busy network of roads in the city centre and Leith is a challenging job for the roads team, which is based at the City Centre Neighbourhood Office on Cockburn Street.
Outlook asked roads manager Graeme Paget about what their day-to-day job entails.
What is the role of the roads team?
We’re responsible for the maintenance and management of all activities on the road network within the city centre and Leith area.
This includes maintenance work for roads, footways, drainage, signs and fencing as well as co-ordinating roadworks by utilities companies.
We carry out routine inspections of the road network to identify defects for repair, provide technical information to contractors and developers as well as approve applications for skips, scaffolding, street traders and permits for tables and chairs.
What are the main issues in the area?
The main challenge is to co-ordinate other works around the tram project to minimise disruption to the general public and to maintain the conditions of the roads used as diversion routes.
We also accommodate requests for the many events that take place throughout the city centre while keeping the streets to a high standard with our status as a World Heritage Site.
Because of the high level of tourism in the city centre, a nighttime economy and a high density of businesses, we often experience a greater volume of demands.
In 2010/11, the City Centre/Leith roads team processed:
- 46 per cent of all tables & chairs permits received city-wide
- 31 per cent of all road permits (skips, scaffolding, excavations etc) received city-wide
- 41 per cent of all events requests received city-wide
- 60 per cent of all Street Trader Applications received city-wide
- 22 per cent of all accident claims received city wide.
Do you get many queries from the public?
We get tonnes of queries from various sources relating to a whole range of issues, such as defective roads and footways, flooding, accident claims, road adoption enquiries, complaints about private contractors or public utilities, parking problems …and the list goes on.