Monday September 21st 2026
Edinburgh Road, Bathgate will see major changes including the replacement of traffic islands with proper crossings and the introduction of cycle lanes
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
Work started today on a long-awaited improvements to one of Bathgate’s main roads.
The 24 week programme will be split into packages to ensure traffic along this major route in and out of town is kept flowing.
At this month’s meeting of the ward Local Area Committee Donald Stavert reiterated concerns first raised in the summer by the community council about delays.
Expectations in the town had been that the work would have started in mid July. Contractual works have delayed the start by around a month.
One thing there’s no disagreement about is the state of the road and its need of repair. Chair of the local Area Committee Labour’s Harry Cartmill spoke earlier this year about the perils of cycling along the pothole pitted route out of town.
This work will also include partial resurfacing, but the bulk of the costs, around £750,000, will be met from the Scottish Government’s Active Travel funding.
The 24 week programme of works includes a complete resurfacing of around 1.2km of road and footpath from the Guildiehaugh Roundabout to King Street.
The work will see changes to the existing layout and the construction of a dedicated cycle way, improved pedestrian crossings and other road improvements.
Phase 1A of the project will see the resurfacing of the south footway and the cycle track construction with kerbing, drainage and street lighting alterations between Guildiehaugh Roundabout to just opposite Lindsay Gardens.
No road closures will be required, with two-way traffic flow maintained in narrow lanes. There will be no right turn into or out of Lindsay Gardens during this phase, with pedestrians diverted onto the north footway.
This phase of works is expected to take around six weeks, finishing around Friday 6 November.
A spokesperson for the council said : “We will provide updates in the future phases of the works closer to the time, and any traffic management work required to ensure the safety of the workers involved.”
Councillors had earlier raised fears that the works would encourage more traffic onto Kirk Road and Marjoribanks Street as drivers seek to avoid delays.
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