Edinburgh's new Roseburn-Union Canal Active Travel Link with Barry Clarke: Monday 2 June 2025.

Edinburgh's new £17M active travel link gives walkers, cyclists and wheelers an exciting direct corridor along the city centre's western fringe linking the Roseburn Railway Path at Murrayfield with the busy commercial and residential area around Fountainbridge. As well as encouraging people to get out of their cars, it offers interesting new perspectives from never-before-seen viewpoints, with a striking new Blue Bridge across the railway that joins the city to the West Coast Main Line. Regeneration of this inner-city neighbourhood, particularly popular with students and lower-income families, has been aided by improvements to the Dalry Community Park.

Another new bridge across Dalry Road has been constructed with a striking corten steel balustrade, perforated with images of people walking, wheeling and cycling. The new bridge sits alongside a new distinctive mural based on the Gorgie-Dalry neighbourhood logo by artist Shona Hardie which has been painted on the existing West Approach Road bridge over Dalry Road.A platform of the old Dalry Road railway station has also been revived.

The scheme provides a high-quality green corridor by transforming the quality of walking and cycling connections from the North Edinburgh Path Network, City Centre West East Link and Quiet Routes 8 and 9 to the Union Canal. It significantly improves connectivity across the city by completing an important missing link in the walking and cycling network, joining the existing Roseburn Path to Fountain Park via new off-road paths passing through areas of greenspace and providing an at-grade toucan crossing over the West Approach Road. Better access has been given to greenspace and improvements made to Dalry Community Park by creating a new green corridor with better public open space, transforming three already distinct sections at Sauchiebank Gardens, Duff Street Woodland and Dalry Community Park, and there is a net gain to biodiversity by planting nearly five thousand new trees.

Starting with a bidirectional section off Russell Road, the new route climbs steeply on a switchback past a future allotment garden to the new railway bridge. The Duff Street woodland awaits an access point which will be delivered in the near future and a timber-sleeper fence screens adjoining residents from light and noise. Following the Western Approach Road along an old railway alignment, the route crosses Dalry Road to reach the Park, the only area of pre-existing open space but one that hitherto was insecure at night - now it is brightly lit with steps offering an improved focal point and a new basketball court. The old platform with renewed coping stones and painted brickwork leads to the toucan crossing from where the existing exit from the Telfer Subway takes users up to Dundee Street.

Public consultation was accomplished in two stages, and feedback from this was used to improve the design, including the provision of additional access points to the main route. Work started in May 2023, and main challenges to contractor Balfour Beatty and site superviser WSP included technical considerations such as changing levels and contours, including incorporation and clearance of the old railway. Environmental considerations included objections to felling of existing self-seeded trees and thus perceived loss of biodiversity where access had to be cleared into previously inaccessible areas of old railway formation.

Market conditions included signing a contract in the midst of rising inflation and global uncertainty over supply chains, while site conditions brought uncharted utilities, asbestos contamination, knotweed and archaeological findings. External influences included the Network Rail interface and delay stemming from legal, technical and political factors, with funding pressures becoming an issue in the later stages, while internal interfaces were with the Council's greenspace and traffic management teams. Public support in principle was tempered by criticism over tree removal and concerns about cost and design issues including among some critics a view about prioritisation of active travel over road maintenance. In-use issues also emerged in relation to maintenance, graffiti and snagging.

Official opening by Cabinet Secretary for Transport Fiona Hyslop MSP was in December 2024. The period for defects and snagging continues until end-2025. A Compulsory Purchase Order already agreed by the Council is required to facilitate access at Duff Street Lane and the legal proceedings to formalise this will begin in the near future. Landscaping consultants Harrison Stevens are progressing a community engagement plan to realise the Landscape and Habitat Management Plan. A second phase could provide a connection to Morrison Link along the West Approach Road and an improved connection to Dundee Street. CCTV installation will improve security, while an artistic intervention by commissioned artists could deter graffiti and interpretation boards will tell of the area's railway and other heritage. There will be the customary monitoring and evaluation, and lessons learned will be reported on for the benefit of future projects.

For further information on this project, visit the Edinburgh City Council website page on the Roseburn to Union Canal

Report by John Yellowlees.