Drivers know how frustrating it is to be held up in a jam caused by unexpected roadworks with temporary traffic lights, but how annoying when no work is going on.
With water, gas, electricity and communication utilities all having the power to dig up the roads at will, everyone agrees there should be better coordination, but somehow it never happens.
Throw in Edinburgh Council’s current programme of installing drop kerbs and it seems we’re never more than a few hundred yards before the next delay.
There is no excuse, other than the cost of shifts, for work not to continue into the evening. Overnight repairs are common everywhere else, but here utilities seem to think they can put up cones, barriers and lights, and then fit in the work when it suits them.
It’s about time such cavalier behaviour was tackled, so why not fine companies every time a road is blocked when no work is being done? Perhaps administered by local authorities, there could be a website for people to send pictures of abandoned sites as proof of inaction.
The only problem is Edinburgh Council is as guilty as the others, so the fund could be ring-fenced and spent on other local projects.
But as it stands there is no jeopardy for utilities to get a move on, and there has to be some incentive to get work finished in as short a time as possible. There is no difficulty hitting drivers with fines, so it can’t be that hard.
