Are our capital’s streets in a fit state for Edinburgh to host the high profile UCI Cycling World Championships Men Elite Road Race which takes place on Sunday?
This is a 271.1km race which begins in Edinburgh at Holyrood and progresses up The Royal Mile, down The Mound, through Stockbridge and then out along Queensferry Road to the Queensferry Crossing and Fife beyond.
Cyclists are likely to be travelling at high speeds of around 40mph, and there are some tight bends at street corners such as Heriot Row and South East Circus Place to negotiate. The defending champion, Remco Evenepoel from Belgium will be riding and the Scottish riders who are on GB’s long list for the race are Mark Stewart from Dundee and Sean Flynn from Edinburgh. The actual starters will not be announced until a day or two before.
The organisers say that the road events will be “held across the beautiful roads of Scotland”. But the surfaces of some of our city streets are not terribly pretty.
We have been tweeting for weeks about the pothole at the foot of The Mound asking if it would be fixed in time for the cycling race which takes place on Sunday 6 August in Edinburgh. It has now been “fixed” but the repair appears far from perfect. This would have been the perfect place to use the Pothole Killer, but it appears that a temporary repair has been effected instead.
We cycled the route from Holyrood to the roundabout near the Western General to see what condition the road is in as we approach the day of the race.
Here is our map showing all the potholes or sunken manholes on the route (and we restricted ourselves to the left hand lane which is presumably the one that the cyclists will be using to get out of town). There are some places on the route where the roadway looks to us as though some major TLC might still be required. Click on the grey circles to bring up our photos of each place we stopped to take a photo where some damage to the road was spotted.
CAMBRIDGESHIRE
In Cambridgeshire a cycling event due to take place in September has already been cancelled due to the unsafe roads. The Histon and Impington Bicycle Club organise the Strawberry Community Cycle Event with options of cycling 11km to 88km. Participants are families and amateurs. We invited Chris Davie the Club Secretary to have a look at our map and he confirmed the similarities. He said: “They are exactly the type of potholes that we have – some small and deep with jagged edges, some large with repairs attempted but breaking up, and some longer cracks. I think we are not alone in suffering with the roads currently but they are particularly lethal to us cyclists.”
The UCI Cycling World Championships take place from 3 to 13 August 2023, and Edinburgh council which has promoted the event agree with organisers that this will be the single biggest cycling event in history.
On the council website it states: “The Council is working with the 2023 Cycling World Championships team and Event Partners to support and deliver events and activities, alongside welcoming spectators, whilst keeping the area moving and open for business.
“Hosting championship events, including road races, will impact our travel network and we will experience changes to the movement of traffic around the area.”
Cllr Scott Arthur, Transport and Environment convener for The City of Edinburgh Council, said he was confident in the condition of the roads in Edinburgh on the race route. He said: “Edinburgh has a lot of experience hosting events similar to the 2023 UCI World Cycling Championships.
“The finalised route has been inspected by our events and roads operations team and they have been working together with the event organiser to ensure roads being used for this event are in a suitable condition. This includes bringing forward work identified as part of future programmes for delivery. The event has the support of all five political parties in Edinburgh.”
We asked specifically about the two sets of roadworks on Queensferry Road and Cllr Arthur replied: “Craigleith was completed this weekend and the works at the Farmer Autocare junction should be finished by 2 August.”
Asked what the council has done to ensure the route is safe, Cllr Arthur replied: “Events and roads operations team are working together to ensure roads being used for this event will be in a suitable condition. This includes bringing forward work identified as part of future programmes for delivery.
“Inspections are also being held jointly with the Cycling World Championships team to identify if road condition is suitable. It’s been a joint effort.”
We will have to wait and see how much this work is costing as it is “still ongoing”. But Cllr Arthur concluded that “most of it has been contained within the existing programme of works”.
A spokesperson for the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships said that they have requested that the roads are in a suitable and safe condition for the bike race, and that a number of route inspections have been made.
Confirming that some repairs have been requested the spokesperson said: “The local authority are responsible for repairs to their roads. However Cycling World Championships has been conscious of the cost of the road repairs throughout the process and the impact of this on the authority. We have been working with all partners collaboratively to ensure the routes are suitable for the passage of the race. The routes have a number of inspections up until the week of racing and the last pre-race inspection is this week.”
Councillor Val Walker, Culture and Communities Convener said in May when Edinburgh’s inclusion in the sport was announced: “We are delighted at the announcement that the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships will have Edinburgh as a key starting point in the race. The capital will provide a picturesque backdrop to what promises to be a fantastic event. As well as the visual spectacle of the Championships, the event will also help to support and amplify the City Mobility Plan and promote active and sustainable travel.
“As with all major events taking place in the city centre, the race will be managed in full consultation with our Public Safety and Roads Teams, as well as Police Scotland and summer festival partners, to ensure a safe and exciting event can be enjoyed by all.
“We are very much looking forward to the start of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships. These events will not only allow Edinburgh residents to see the world’s leading male cyclists in action but also showcase the very best of Edinburgh to travelling tourists and athletes and provide a great opportunity for Scotland to show itself as a premier destination for elite cycling and cycling tourism.”
Road closures
These roads will be closed from 6:30pm on August 5 to 12 noon on 6 August:
- Queens Drive
- Horse Wynd
- Dukes Walk
These roads will be closed from 11:59pm on August 5 to 1:45pm on 6 August:
- Canongate
- New Street (between East Market Street and Canongate)
These roads will be closed from 11:59pm on August 5 to 11:15am on 6 August:
- High Street (between South Bridge and St Giles Street)
- Lawnmarket (between St Giles Street and Bank Street)
These roads will be closed from 11:59pm on August 5 to 12 noon on 6 August:
- High Street (between St Mary’s Street and South Bridge)
The following roads will be closed from 8:00am to 9:45am on 6 August:
- Abbeyhill (between Canongate and Abbeyhill Crescent)
- Calton Road (between Abbeyhill and Abbeyhill Crescent)
The following roads will be closed from 9:00am to 9:45am on 6 August:
- George IV Bridge (between Lawnmarket and Victoria Street)
- Lawnmarket (between Bank Street and Castlehill)
- Bank Street
- North Bank Street
- The Mound
- Hanover Street
- Queen Street Gardens East
- Heriot Row (between Dundas Street and Howe Street)
- Howe Street (between Heriot Row and South-East Circus Place)
- South-East Circus Place
- Circus Place
- North-West Circus Place
These roads will be closed from 9:10am to 9:45am on 6 August:
- Kerr Street
- Deanhaugh Street
- Raeburn Place
- Comely Bank Road
- Craigleith Road
These roads will be closed from 9:15am to 9:50am on 6 August:
- Queensferry Road (between Craigleith Road and Hillhouse Road)
- Hillhouse Road
These roads will be closed from 9:20 to 9:55am on 6 August:
- Queensferry Road (between Hillhouse Road and Maybury Road)
These roads will be closed from 9:40am to 10am on 6 August:
- Queensferry Road / A90 South-eastbound (between the dual carriageway section and Whitehouse Road)
These roads will be closed from 9:40am to 10:40am on 6 August:
- Queensferry Road / A90 North-westbound (between Maybury Road and the boundary of City of Edinburgh Council’s responsibility).
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
The condition of Edinburgh roads leaves me in despair. So bad that parts of my lightweight bike have been broken while riding over surface uneveness. I now put my bike in the car and DRIVE outside Edinburgh to enjoy some decent cycling roads. Meanwhile, the Council spends money laying unwanted tarmac over roads which are perfectly satisfactory, while leaving bad road surfaces quite untouched. So much for a city council supporting cycling.
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