Was out on a drive today and noticed some activity at the Leadburn junction, south of Penicuik. However, it wasn't to do with the road layout! Work has at last started on a replacement building for the Leadburn Inn, which was destroyed after a car crashed into it at the end of 2005. Good to see that it is being rebuilt.

Meanwhile the junction has been altered slightly, with the slips from each side of the junction closed to force motorists to slow down on approach. There are also plans afoot to convert it to a roundabout in the new few years.

3 years to build an Inn?

Because of the nature of the accident (the car which crashed into the original Inn exploded on impact, killing the driver, and then set fire to the building in the process), I'd imagine that there would have been the small matter of insurance to sort out first. The plans for the replacement Inn went in to the local council fairly quickly after the accident took place, but it will have been the legal wrangling which has held things up until now.

As per usual.. or Health and Saftey...

Coat gotten.

That was enforced fairly quickly after the accident, as the Inn was very badly damaged by the resultant fire and had to be demolished.

The mind boggles as to how Health and Safety could be enforced on a pile of rubble...!

Well, when there's a will there's a way...

A house got crashed into by here, the D2 is now D1 with the walkway to the right of lane 1 - everything else is closed (admittedly, the house dows border the back of the pavement).

Leadburn Crossroads, as it is now known, was reduced to a 40mph speed limit on June 22nd 2012. New signs have also been installed. Bloody cheapskates!

Apparently the money which Midlothian Council had set aside for building a roundabout had gone 'missing'. The local farmer was going to donate the land required, for nothing.

It's an awful junction, and a roundabout isn't an option, it's a necessity.

Weird coincidence ... I come back from a few days away and find this thread on the front page, bumped after four years' silence.

I drove through this junction today, for the first time in decades, and thought "I wonder why they've never made this a roundabout?".

Wouldn't a cheaper option be to stick a pole on each corner with coloured bulbs on them?

There is a lot of commuter traffic from Peebles to Edinburgh, and the A703/A701 is the only viable route. Traffic lights would make a journey that is already a pain in the butt, even more so. A roundabout would keep it reasonably free-flowing, and safer.