More than a mile of canal through Wester Hailes on the outskirts of Edinburgh was filled in when the housing estate was built, leaving a gap between Dumbryden Road next to Hailes Park, and Calder Crescent near the Edinburgh City Bypass road. Since August 1999, work has been going on to put the canal back through Wester Hailes again.

Phase 1 of the work, which covered the section to the left of Wester Hailes Road on the map, is now complete. Phase 2 is by far the more complex and is still going on. It involves recutting another half mile of canal and building 6 new road bridges and 2 new footbridges. At present (29/3/2001), most of the road bridges are complete and open to road traffic (with the exception of Kingsknowe Road which is separate from the infill), and the channel can be made out between Wester Hailes Road and Murrayburn Road. The pictures below show how work has been progressing.

Walkers on the Edinburgh section of canal might have been surprised to find it suddenly disappearing at Dumbryden Road, just next to Hailes Park.

On the other side of the road, a low wall which was once the parapet of the original Dumbryden Road Bridge was until recently the only clue to the canal's existence. Now the whole line of the canal through the estate is a linear construction site, with new roads, bridges and canal channels being built all along it.

The canal water flows hidden from view below Wester Hailes. The little square building in the center of this picture is the pumping station which keeps the water flowing through the culvert. Of course it will no longer be required once the canal is flowing on the surface again. The line of the new canal passes to the left of the pumping station. The road in the foreground of the picture is Hailesland Park; a new bridge to carry it over the reopened canal is now under construction. (By the time this photo was taken, the trees on the line of the canal had already been felled in preparation for the work starting).

Many new bridges will be required to take the canal through the complex network of roads and paths in Wester Hailes. This picture looks across Murrayburn Road at roughly the point where the canal bridge is now being built, towards Wester Hailes Road where a new bridge is already complete (see below). The image quality is largely thanks to my scanner - still, I got it for nothing, so I can't really complain :-)

The canal flows underneath roads and grassy areas, but fortunately no buildings. It flows under the grass just in front of the petrol station on the right hand side of this picture.

Looking from Wester Hailes Road to Murrayburn Road along the line of the canal, 5/7/2000. This is the point where phase 1 of the work, now almost complete, meets phase 2, just beginning. This section of canal will be on quite a steep slope, so a substantial bank will have to be built up on the north side to hold it up.

Murrayburn Road Bridge (6C) works, 5/7/2000, viewed from below. One bridge abutment can be seen in the centre of the picture in front of the blocks of flats. The road is being moved slightly north and raised quite considerably to take it over the new canal with the minimum amount of disruption.

Looking west, roughly along the line of the canal, from a footbridge over Hailesland Road on 5/7/2000. On the left side of the road in the middle distance, the Clovenstone Road bridge (6B) is being built. Canal level is a few feet below ground level at this point, so the bridge is being built in a dip.

Looking east from about the same spot, 5/7/2000. The bridge being built in the foreground is the Walker's Wynd crossing (6A), the construction site just visible in the background is for the Hailesland Park bridge (6). Once the bridges near completion, a canal channel will be excavated to pass under them.

Looking from the completed Murrayburn Road bridge (6C) towards Wester Hailes Road on 29/3/2001. By this time, the canal channel has been lined and has begun to accumulate rainwater.

The original Dumbryden Road bridge arch had been uncovered by the time this picture was taken on 29/3/2001. A new, lower level concrete bridge is being built on the east side to replace it.

Click here to read about phase 1 of Wester Hailes

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