Covered in August full council roundup on edi.bike:
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
St Mark’s Park Bridge shut (Powderhall)
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Posted 2 months ago #
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The most-visited links from the last newsletter:
1: Spurtle: No new Powderhall bridge until 2028.
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Posted 2 months ago # -
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QUESTION NO 12
By Councillor Booth for answer by the Convener of the Transport and Environment Committee at a meeting of the Council on 17 September 2026
Given that it may be several years until the St Mark's Park bridge is repaired or replaced, and given this is a vital part of our active travel infrastructure, will the Convener please outline what steps the council is taking to explore the
installation of a temporary diversion path?Specifically, has the council considered the feasibility of using the existing Powderhall railway bridge opposite Redbraes Park to connect the Water of Leith path to Broughton Road
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By coincidence WoLCT posted a picture of litter picking on the track to the bridge on BS on Thursday
https://bsky.app/profile/wolct.bsky.social/post/3mv6vse7bmk2n
Posted 1 month ago # -
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Yesterday City of Edinburgh Green Councillor Chas Booth had a couple of questions answered
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Question (1) Given that it may be several years until the St Mark’s Park bridge is repaired or replaced, and given this is a vital part of our active travel infrastructure, will the Convener please outline what steps the council is taking to explore the installation of a temporary diversion path?Answer (1) Officers from Parks are actively looking at options for a temporary diversion path. A temporary diversion was previously put in place, because of the development works, and this option is being revisited alongside the option referred to in the response to question 2.
Question (2) Specifically, has the council considered the feasibility of using the existing Powderhall railway bridge opposite Redbraes Park to connect the Water of Leith path to Broughton Road?
Answer (2) Officers are currently considering whether this option is feasible and will report back, via a business bulletin item, at the October meeting of the Culture and Communities Committee.
………………………………………………………………………“
https://powderhall.link/2026/09/18/small-steps-forward-and-maybe-a-ramp/
Posted 1 month ago # -
All good news and a side benefit of having started the campaign.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Posted 1 month ago #
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2007
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
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Powderhall Footbridge No. 2 Briefing Note
City & Neighbourhood Services and Transport & Mobility
Place Directorate
14/10/2026“
Most interesting
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
A huge amount of detail in that!
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Looking at the report it's a bit embarassing to be honest. A bridge with a "120 year design life" has only lasted less than 20 years. Looking at the photos of the splitting it looks like a combination of poor quality wood and poor craftsmanship to me? Of course they've absolutely done the right thing erring on the side of caution rather than waiting for it to collapse!
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Seems that much of the cost may be the cable re-routing works. 671k just to reroute city fibre's wires!
I do wonder at the wisdom of using bridges in this way, particularly where a separate utility bridge would be easy as here.
The replacement of the Harrison Road bridge has been terribly delayed by the issue of cables, and that delay despite the it being an actual road bridge and thus Important(TM) and subject to pressure from those who wish to resume driving their SUVs over it toute de suite.
No such pressure exists at Powderhall. Doesn't bode well indeed :(
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Poor design, basically, possibly with under-seasoned or under-section timber. The mortise and tenon joints are perfectly good but the dowels provide stress raisers, and the beams ought to have had steel reinforcement, either within the joints themselves or across-grain threaded rods.
This is how you build a wooden bridge: https://maps.app.goo.gl/gkofRKvWT9HR8eys6 - the Swiss even put a roof on it to help prevent moisture ingress.
Not sure why CEC wouldn't consider another Bailey bridge?
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
“Not sure why CEC wouldn't consider another Bailey bridge?”
They may well be
Might be slightly quicker/cheaper
But there’s no money anyway…
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
If there is “no pressure“ to replace the bridge, then we need to make the pressure
Campaigns, direct action, whatever
Seems like a good candidate for a temporary Bailey bridge, as there was before
£2.2m is a lot, but how much are they spending replacing the 2 Harrison park bridges? They seem to “magically” find the money for those, so it isn’t true “there’s no money”
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Posted 3 weeks ago #
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This is prime example of "build cheap, build twice", @Arellcat's analysis is far more thorough than mine was but explains a lot. It was the lack of rods I noticed but it's interesting that they are present in some of the other bridges in the report that have failed.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Devol Glen, over by Port Glasgow, has a Bailey bridge. It was necessary in re-establishing a continuous path because the original disused railway viaduct had been demolished (I think as part of an Army training exercise).
I also seem to recall that Tulyar here was part of the team that designed and erected it.
There is also another excellent example over the Afon Elan at Elan Village in Rhayder in Wales (with accompanying chain suspension footbridge).
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
The quote from CityFibre seems strange to me. If this was a private bridge on private land, they would have had to obtain and make recurring payments for a wayleave to run their cables across it. As it's a public bridge, somehow the council can't replace it unless they obtain a huge amount of funding to give to CityFibre? Yet it seems this is totally normal according to Google.
I note https://cps.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/CPS_LOWERING_INFRASTRUCTURE_COSTS.pdf
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
Are we expected to hope that some neds set it on fire so it collapses?
They'd have to fix it then.
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
The chicane barriers at the underpass between Hay Drive and Bingham were genuinely removed by some neds with a stolen bulldozer.
I asked a councillor at the time what lesson I, as someone who spent far too long writing emails asking for them to be removed, should take from this. I don't think I got an answer.
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
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POWDERHALL BAILEY BRIDGE WAS ERECTED OVER THE WATER OF LEITH IN 1950s. THE PIERS ARE NOW SEVERELY CORRODED AND THE DECK REQUIRES MAJOR MAINTENANCE, THE PROPOSED STRUCTURE WILL BE ERECTED ON THE SAME LINE AS THE EXISTING STRUCTURE AND WILL REUSE THE EXISING FOUNDATIONSIT IS A REQUIREMENT THAT THE PROPOSED STRUCTURE WILL REQUIRE LITTLE OR NO MAINTENANCE THROUGHOUT THE DESIGN LIFE OF 120 YEARS, DUE TO THE COST AND HEALTH AND SAFETY IMPLICATIONS OF UNDERTAKING INSPECTION AND MAINTENANCE WORKS. THE PROPOSED STRUCTURE IS AN EKKI TIMBER SUPERSTRUCTURE WITH MASONRY PIERS, WHICH WILL REQUIRE LITTLE OR NO MAINTENANCE
THE EKKI TIMBER IS OBTAINED FROM RENEWABLE SOURCES, WITH STAINLESS STEEL FIXINGS THROUGHOUT, THE BRIDGE IS SUPPLIED WITH A BROWN STAIN FINISH WHICH WEATHERS TO A LIGHT GREYI SILVER COLOUR
“Posted 2 weeks ago # -
That aged well :)
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
Just like the brown stain finish?
Having never heard of Ekki timber I looked it up and it does sound (on paper at least) to be a sensible material to use so not sure why it's split so badly in so short a time?
It's not as if they've been running Sherman tanks over the bridge...Posted 2 weeks ago # -
Given that Ekki timber is used for lock gates, it seems odd that water ingress has been a problem. I do see that a couple of timber retailers highlight that "It is important to predrill any holes before nailing to help prevent splitting the wood." Looking at how the timber has failed, you have to wonder whether it is a manufacturing or design defect - rather than a fault in the material.
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
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At last night’s Leith Central Community Council meeting in McDonald Rd Library, LCCC and New Town & Broughton Community Council members criticised what they described as an ‘inadequate’ Briefing Note issued by Edinburgh Council last week.
Their charges and those of others in the room included:
The bridge being closed on the ‘fairly slim evidence’ of unnamed engineers in a series of informal meetings.
Questionable assertions that ‘suitably qualified’ Council officers had carried out inspections.‘Misleading’ information in the Briefing Note which claims engineering inspections were in line with standards laid out in the Design Manual for Bridges and Structures when, allegedly, they were not. The promised ‘principal’ inspection has not been carried out.
Insufficient consideration given to temporary repairs or a temporary ‘drop-in’ replacement bridge.Slow pace of information for the public and lack of engagement. The Briefing Note had taken too long (3 months) to appear, yet shows signs of having been hurried.
Failure to make a Council officer available for questioning in public.
‘Disappointing’ failure by officers to update the Culture & Communities Cmte this month.After 6 months, failure to provide a properly signposted and lit diversion route.
Council decisions on the bridge’s future (with multi-million-pound implications) being made without any formal assessment of its value or level of use.“
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
Interesting engineering discussion in the comments on this article on The Spurtle https://www.broughtonspurtle.org.uk/news/footbridge-design-life-was-no-guarantee
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
Warren Truss type bridges from the comments above https://xtdsteel.com/warren-truss-design/
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
If only CEC hadn't had to cut up and scrap the steel lattice footbridge that spanned Leith Street. It was the perfect length for the WoL at St Mark's Path.
Posted 2 weeks ago #
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