Myreside Road (particularly the northbound side) is a mess at the moment. There are lots of tipper trucks taking muck out of the REH site and heading out of Edinburgh along Colinton Road, and the road is covered in mud.
It's filthy and slidy and busy with scary four-axle rigid body tipper trucks (which we know are bad for cyclists)
However this morning it also had several rocks on it. Not gravel, but fist-sized rocks, which are a considerable hazard. I've written the following to the MD of Morrison Construction (couldn't find anyone more local). I'll let you know what transpires...
Dear Mr Gillespie
Apologies for contacting you directly, but I have been unable to find any more local links that would let me get a message to your team building the new Royal Edinburgh Hospital (REH) campus in Morningside, Edinburgh.
I'm concerned by the amount of debris that is appearing on Myreside Road and Colinton Road, Edinburgh, and which is clearly falling off the tipper trucks that are leaving the REH site. This morning at 0730 there were considerable quantities of pebbles scattered for some distance along these roads, and their colour matched the colour of the trail of mud leading from the REH site onto Myreside Road. More concerning, though, is that there were several fist-sized rocks on the carriageway too, and again their colour strongly suggests they have come from the REH site.
I travel on this road every day by bicycle. I can understand that the film of brown mud on the road (and now my bike) is an unavoidable consequence of these construction works. However the stones on the road are a hazard that I think should be avoided by proper sheeting and cleaning of the trucks before they leave the site. The risk they present to me is that I hit one and come off the bike, that I have to swerve to avoid them (potentially putting me in the path of another vehicle) or that one is thrown up at me by a passing car.
Please will you speak to the team at REH and ask them to take care to prevent rocks falling onto the road. I also think it's important that they take action to ensure that the carriageway is kept clear of the fist-sized rocks I saw today. I don't think occasional passes with a sweeper truck are sufficient for this: they need to monitor the road and immediately remove these bigger rocks.
I look forward to hearing from you
Yours sincerely
Greenroofer