A BUSY stretch of road on the outskirts of Haddington has been compared to a race track by a concerned resident.

Problems with speeding along Haldane Avenue, to the north of the town, were raised at Haddington’s community council meeting earlier this month.

Community councillor Fiona-Frances Adam, who lives in the nearby Gateside area of the town, claimed that there were problems with speeding on the busy stretch of road, which links the roundabout at the junction of Aberlady Road along to the Oaktree Junction of the A1.

She said: “I’m absolutely shocked.

“You can hear the speed motorbikes are going there; it is horrendous.

“You hear the speed of cars that are bombing along there.”

Mrs Adam said that the problem was not restricted to vehicles travelling in one direction and instead seemed to be cars and motorbikes both going into and leaving the town.

Construction work is currently ongoing at the multi-million-pound East Lothian Community Hospital, which is due to open in 2019 and is built on the site of the existing Roodlands Hospital.

Previously, traffic going to the hospital would use a car park off Hospital Road but this changed late last year, with a new car park accessed off Haldane Avenue and Alderston Road.

Changes were also made to the length of the road covered by the 40 miles per hour speed limit.

Now, the 40 miles per hour zone stretches further beyond Haldane Avenue’s junction with Alderston Road before becoming a 60 miles per hour zone.

Mrs Adam said that the issue was at its worst at the weekends, with cars and motorbikes “screaming” along the road.

Police Constable Lynn Black, Haddington Community Ward Officer, was at the meeting and said that police could carry out speed checks on the street to see if there was an issue.

Officers can use pro-laser speed guns to check the speed of approaching vehicles.

Another option would be for East Lothian Council to carry out a speed survey on the road.

That would see rubber strips, which collect various data such as the speed vehicles crossed them and the number of vehicles crossing them, put down across the road.