Haymarket

Haymarket is the start of the A70 in Edinburgh. The gyratory system also contains the A8 and B700, while the tramline passes through the junction and mainline trains travel in a tunnel below. The junction has long been congested, with the necessity of managing movements between the A8 Edinburgh-Glasgow road east-west, the A70 to the southwest, the important local route along the B700, and the residential sidestreet of Grosvenor Street to the north. Buses, trams, taxis and other vehicles also need to access Haymarket Station, one of Scotland's busiest railway stations. The result is a complex and much-modified junction which allows several movements but prohibits others.

Traffic arriving from the west on the A8 or A70 doesn't have much choice: it is sent further along the A8, from which it can use Torphichen Street to access south Edinburgh via the B700, or take one of the roads to the north; the A8 is restricted further east. Traffic from Morrison Street (B700) has the most options, able to turn right onto the A8 eastbound or take the A70 or A8 westbound. There is no through route from the A8 at Atholl Place westbound to Haymarket; it must go via Torphichen Street and Morrison Street.

Car drivers might be advised if possible to avoid the junction and use the West Approach Road instead, and during the years of tram works, they had no option, being directed up sidestreets or banned entirely. On the other hand, the junction is well served with bars and restaurants, so parking up might be a valid alternative (the station has some parking, though the former carpark on the corner of Morrison Street has now closed to be used for flats).

The tram follows the main road to the east (Clifton Terrace/Atholl Place, part of the A8), but after Haymarket tram stop it leaves the road to the west to travel by a separate line over Haymarket Yards.