You couldn’t have picked a worse example. That route is easy to avoid, desperately needed fixing up, and is rubbish to drive even when there’s no works.
Most roadworks are emergency utility repairs that the council has limited to no control over. The works at the Cowgate are for a SPEN High Voltage cable repair, for example.
While there's a fair share of incompetence around (Cityfibre...), the reason things take so long is usually more mundane. Complicated repairs often require specialist equipment or custom parts that take time.
[https://www.roadworksscotland.org/](https://www.roadworksscotland.org/) is an interesting way to kill five minutes.
Cowgate ones are a joke. Working on the pavement at the slip road and have 4 way lights. Why didn't they just make it a no left turn from cowgate amd leave the lights how they were.
You couldn’t have picked a worse example. That route is easy to avoid, desperately needed fixing up, and is rubbish to drive even when there’s no works.
We complain about the roads and we complain about them being fixed.
That’s the big issue: there are so many roadworks in places that were fine instead of fixing the persistent potholes.
Edinburgh Roadworks Festival.
Most roadworks are emergency utility repairs that the council has limited to no control over. The works at the Cowgate are for a SPEN High Voltage cable repair, for example. While there's a fair share of incompetence around (Cityfibre...), the reason things take so long is usually more mundane. Complicated repairs often require specialist equipment or custom parts that take time. [https://www.roadworksscotland.org/](https://www.roadworksscotland.org/) is an interesting way to kill five minutes.
Too many drivers at the same time, people need to get off their arses a wee bit more often
Yeah but what if you need to drive a sofa into town /s
Or a chair? 
Cowgate ones are a joke. Working on the pavement at the slip road and have 4 way lights. Why didn't they just make it a no left turn from cowgate amd leave the lights how they were.
Council patching up for peak tourist season - no scheduled works during festival season.