Back in the summer of 2018, a massive project to restore the historic North Bridge to its former glory began.

But seven years and four months later, locals have yet to see the results of work now costing nearly four times as much as planned.

The project ran into a number of delays, setbacks and skyrocketing costs. The last major refurbishment of the bridge took place back in 1933, and some areas of the structure had been left untouched for 125 years.

This meant more extensive work was needed than was first realised. Pair that with a global pandemic and a rising cost of living and both the timeline for the project – and the cost – were significantly hit.

And while work is set to be fully completed in the summer of 2026, many locals are outraged at the time it’s taken to get to this stage.

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Adam White, 28, works in hospitality in the city centre. He moved to Edinburgh before the project began and feels the drawn out construction work is a “nightmare” for those looking to make their way up North Bridge.

He said: “I’ve been in Edinburgh for 10 years, in the last eight it’s not been open.

“People have to congregate, walking on one side of the pavement when they’re going up and down the bridge and it’s terrible. It’s really bad and it also ruins the nice view from the bridge.”

While traffic is now able to make its way both up and down the bridge now, only one side of the pavement is open. This means that those wanting to walk up the street have to fight oncoming foot traffic.

Over they years public transport has been affected by the works too.

Catriona Heather commutes from the city centre to Glasgow for university and often had to leave even earlier due to the roadworks – especially when buses faced diversions and one way traffic on the bridge.

She said: “It’s really annoying for the buses because I commute to Glasgow so I have to get a bus down North Bridge. It would take ages, and I already have to get to Glasgow so it would take an extra half hour to get to uni.

“There was a time when all the buses would go along the museum way so they wouldn’t even take us down North Bridge at all!”

Catriona is from Edinburgh and can’t remember a time when the bridge was fully open.

“I don’t actually remember a time when it was all open,” she said. “I would have been 15 when it started but I didn’t come into the city centre properly until I was 18, so no I’ve only ever seen it under construction.

“I hope it looks nice when it’s done, for the time they’ve spent! I hope they’ve put some effort into making it look nice.”

A local business owner told Edinburgh Live that his store on North Bridge was significantly impacted by the road closures.

He said: “It really affects local businesses. When it was on the other side of the road it wasn’t so bad but since Covid, they started working on this side and that has really affected us.”

While works have progressed to a stage where both sides of the street are fully accessible to pedestrians just before the bridge, the man – who wishes to remain anonymous – said his business has only just started to get back to pre-construction levels.

Over the last seven years he has had to deal with lower foot-fall traffic – and less customers.

He continued: “Now it’s opened back up, it’s much better but it really affects businesses.”

Council chiefs have thanked the public for their patience, saying that the project is hugely complex and once they gained full access to the bridge they realised more work was needed than initially anticipated.

Council Leader Jane Meagher said: “We’re restoring and maintaining this historic and vital transport link joining the Old and New Town for current and future generations to come.

“Located in the World Heritage Site, the Category A status of the structure means it is an outstanding example of a particular period and style. To preserve this, work began in the summer of 2018 when we installed scaffolding to gain access to areas not worked on for 125 years. It became clear – very quickly – that more repairs would be required than initially anticipated. This has impacted on the length and the cost of the project as well as other factors such as the pandemic and cost of rising inflation.

“This is a hugely complex project, being compared to dentistry at a massive scale by one former President of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). It’s brilliant to see parts of the scaffolding now coming down and the impressive southwest façade being visible once again.

“We know that these works have taken longer than we had initially planned, and we are grateful to the local business community, residents, and commuters for their patience. I’m looking forward to next year when we’ll finally see the full structure being restored to its former glory.”

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