Left turn ban in Edinburgh city centre to be lifted after increased congestion

A controversial left turn ban in Edinburgh city centre is set to be lifted after the restriction increased congestion and caused delays to public transport.

Traffic has been blocked from turning from Leith Walk onto London Road since December 2022, forcing it to go around Picardy Place – one of the city’s busiest junctions.

Initially the change was ignored by many motorists, who made the turn while pedestrians were crossing at a green man – which saw bollards knocked down and in one instance led to a man being hit by a car.

Data showed over 900 drivers broke the rules in the space of one week, however it emerged none were issued with a fine.

Councillors will be asked to re-introduce the left turn at next week’s transport committee.

However transport convener Scott Arthur denied it was a “climb down” in response to the “lawlessness”.

He said: “Reflecting on it now, blocking that turn, I think rather than protecting public transport travel times through the area – and I’m really talking about Picardy Place because it forces the traffic to go around Picardy Place rather than just making that turn – it’s actually made things made things more difficult for public transport.”

Officials said at times when there are high volumes of city centre traffic, particularly during the summer festivals, the no left turn was contributing to long vehicle queues on Leith Street and Broughton Street.

Last summer the increasing congestion saw Lothian Buses take some routes off Leith Street due to the impact on journey times, leaving “quite a lot of people feeling rightly quite frustrated,” Cllr Arthur said.

He added: “People were saying it was taking them far too long to get through Picardy Place so hopefully all of that will be alleviated and that we can make these changes without impacting on the pedestrian movements at all really.

“We’re not reacting to the lawlessness, because I think that’s really diminished, it’s really about the impact on public transport and getting that right.”

If approved by councillors on Thursday, May 23, it’s expected the restriction will be lifted by the end of June or early July.

The council said as part of the re-think, there will be a “minimum of 10 seconds” for traffic to use the turn, and when it does off the ahead signal will remain on allowing pedestrian and cyclists to come over from London Road.