Princes Street will be closed to traffic from this Saturday as the Edinburgh Tram Project starts laying the rails for the first section of the Edinburgh tramway.
No traffic will be allowed on the length of Princes street from South Charlotte Street in the West End to South St David Street, just off St Andrew Square, until the work is completed.
The Edinburgh Tram Project says the logistical planning involved in supporting the approximately 400 businesses directly affected by the Princes Street tram works is their "largest and most sophisticated logistics initiative yet." For example, refuse collections for New Town residents and businesses in the vicinity are being rescheduled to night time, throughout the week.
Pedestrians
The pedestrian walkway on the shop side of Princes Street will remain open, but the garden side of Princes Street will be closed. Princes Street Gardens will remain open and unaffected by the work.
Pedestrians will be able to cross Princes Street at South Charlotte Street, The Mound, and South St David Street.
Diversions
During the Princes Street tram works, buses, taxis and cycles will be diverted via George Street and general traffic will travel along Queen Street.
If for some reason traffic is held up in Queen Street, it will be diverted around Dublin Street, Abercromby Place, Moray Place and Great Stuart Street. This is for emergency situations only.
Completion Date
Princes Street could be re-opened in October or November 2009, depending on whether work is suspended during the festival in August.
Although a break had been planned for August in the original timetable, Princes Street retailers are keen that work continues throughout the festival so that the tram works is completed by the typically busy christmas period.
It would mean that the Edinburgh Festivals Cavalcade, which sees up to 3,000 performers trundle the length of Princes Street on floats, would not go ahead - at least not as the traditional spectacle that attracts around 175,000 people.
David Mackay, chairman of tie Ltd described the laying of the track on Edinburgh's iconic street as "a pivotal moment for the project and will see the first tangible aspects of the Edinburgh Trams appearing in the Capital."