http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Edinburgh Union Canal Towpath Study – Consultation Event en Tue, 19 May 2026 14:43:46 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668&page=2#post-258328 Fri, 25 Aug 2017 16:46:04 +0000 piosad 258328@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>The suggested improvements at Craiglockhart Primary look great. Closing off Ashley Drive is the right thing to do anyway as loads of children have to cross there coming off the towpath and some people drive like maniacs, in addition to the parents who drop off behind the school. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668&page=2#post-258319 Fri, 25 Aug 2017 14:25:22 +0000 AKen 258319@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>Can't accuse them of not thinking big - an elevated cycleway from the bypass to Lochrin Basin, way to go guys! </em></p> <p>Will enjoy seeing that. Probably get a great view when taking a trip across town with my jetpack. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668&page=2#post-258311 Fri, 25 Aug 2017 13:55:15 +0000 Rosie 258311@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>That cycling bypass along the canal looks brilliant. Excited at the thought of it. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668&page=2#post-258310 Fri, 25 Aug 2017 13:51:36 +0000 Morningsider 258310@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Can't accuse them of not thinking big - an elevated cycleway from the bypass to Lochrin Basin, way to go guys! </p> <p>Also lots of more realistic suggestions for decent, low-cost improvements. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668&page=2#post-258309 Fri, 25 Aug 2017 13:32:16 +0000 emuir 258309@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Towpath Usability Study findings have been published: <a href="https://www.scottishcanals.co.uk/placemaking/edinburghs-union-canal-towpath-study/" rel="nofollow">https://www.scottishcanals.co.uk/placemaking/edinburghs-union-canal-towpath-study/</a>. PDF links at the bottom of page.</p> <p>2nd last PDF link has a "Slateford Snake" parallel bridge proposal. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668&page=2#post-253163 Sun, 18 Jun 2017 10:33:14 +0000 neddie 253163@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>That looks like a good study. Let's hope they act on it. </p> <p>I'm surprised there's no mention of building a towpath/cycle path on the other side. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668&page=2#post-253158 Sat, 17 Jun 2017 21:23:46 +0000 jules878 253158@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Scottish Canals had a stand at Edinburgh Canal Festival today (17 June 2017) with details of the Towpath Study so far based on public meetings, discussions etc.</p> <p>They say they "would very much welcome your feedback, observations and ideas about the towpath."</p> <p>Here is link to PDF of the display boards - <a href="https://www.scottishcanals.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/ConsultationBanners_LowRes.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.scottishcanals.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/ConsultationBanners_LowRes.pdf</a></p> <p>It says feedback on these and further thoughts on the study can be emailed to <a href="mailto:17015@harrisonstevens.co.uk">17015@harrisonstevens.co.uk</a>. </p> <p>You will need to be speedy though because study report will be finalised early July. </p> <p>I've emailed them a few thoughts. Others might wish to do likewise if they have anything to add! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668&page=2#post-249985 Fri, 12 May 2017 21:19:34 +0000 qwerty 249985@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Will they be producing a summary... An output... We can see/read? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668&page=2#post-249715 Thu, 11 May 2017 09:37:07 +0000 jdanielp 249715@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@IWRATS I will try to mention your points. Thank you SRD. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668&page=2#post-249712 Thu, 11 May 2017 09:13:05 +0000 SRD 249712@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>No bike racks, but lots of railings around th churchyard. just wheel it inside and park to ralings or signage. everyone does it. </p> <p>But please don't lock to the railings on the ramps, which might impede disabled access. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-249709 Thu, 11 May 2017 08:11:54 +0000 I were right about that saddle 249709@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@jdanielp</p> <p>Can you represent me to the consultation? I'd go, but I'm entertaining my mum.</p> <p>Basically the canal towpath needs to be wider and that means de-scheduling and re-building some of the bridges and widening the aqueduct.</p> <p>No on-street facility will ever match its absurd beauty and car free utility.</p> <p>The aqueduct widening should be done using structural glass. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-249706 Thu, 11 May 2017 08:01:08 +0000 jdanielp 249706@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>How is the bike parking at Polwarth Church? I'm going along at half five. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-249692 Wed, 10 May 2017 22:17:28 +0000 chdot 249692@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>TOMORROW </p> <p><a href="http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248097" rel="nofollow">http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248097</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248281 Fri, 28 Apr 2017 19:21:06 +0000 gembo 248281@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@laidback nice action from the crazy Germans. The crazy Swiss who are in the band Not the sensational Alex Harvey band were at sneaky pete's last week</p> <p>@iwrats, heard of a gravy boat but not a gravy team, see also a cow creamer in the works of pg wodehouse </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248265 Fri, 28 Apr 2017 14:24:10 +0000 LaidBack 248265@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>German visitors triking over on way to Helensburgh and Arrochar.</p> <p><a href="https://flic.kr/p/SBxLgr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2866/33220113143_30ac9dbc5a_z.jpg"></a><a href="https://flic.kr/p/SBxLgr">Trike tour to west - Slateford Aqueduct</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/66067108@N08/">LaidBackBikes</a>, on Flickr</p> <p>I did go on bridge first and was very grateful for the oncoming cyclists assistance. Dismounting trikes doesn't work when towed from the rear with two front wheels behind there's a bigger risk they could drop over edge. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248262 Fri, 28 Apr 2017 14:16:59 +0000 I were right about that saddle 248262@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Perhaps a large gravy tram is the answer? I'd like to see one of them. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248259 Fri, 28 Apr 2017 13:54:29 +0000 Ed1 248259@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Well the 976 million predicted spend on the tram could have been better spent on cycle paths, as the tram largely duplicates the bus, sure its electric, but could have bought a few electric buses to run the route also the impact in building the tram and extra emission created through congestion means may be difficult to know when if ever turns positive but that is using 2 criteria carbon or local pollution. </p> <p>If the same money had been spent on cycling could have had a skycycle. However like the parliaments over expensive building or other such wasteful cost over running projects, cycle lane may be don’t create a large gravy train for contractors and officials like the Edinburgh transport job scheme. </p> <p>It’s not that I don’t like the tram its old tech poorly delivered (some people say) if trams cost 100 million a mile would not have trams in secondary European cities. Its creates a gravy train, I like it now its here but not the best value.</p> <p>What if someone had suggested spend similar amounts on a skycyle people would have laughed or even ground cycling spend at this level yet would possibly be more added value but would not be quite the gravy train of other type projects </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248255 Fri, 28 Apr 2017 13:35:17 +0000 steveo 248255@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em> Wouldn't want motorists to get hold of the new Tarmac.</em></p> <p>Got you coverd, we'll put saftey chichanes up ever 20m or so. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248253 Fri, 28 Apr 2017 13:23:17 +0000 neddie 248253@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>Tarmac the whole thing</em></p> <p>Steady now. Wouldn't want motorists to get hold of the new Tarmac. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248242 Fri, 28 Apr 2017 12:40:44 +0000 jdanielp 248242@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I would say that I would miss the kingfishers if I wasn't already missing them following the cutting back of lots of overhanging branches by Scottish Canals earlier this year. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248235 Fri, 28 Apr 2017 12:17:17 +0000 I were right about that saddle 248235@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I would miss the water and the shoals of urban roach in Wester Hailes. And what would become of the Kingsnowe Rat? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248232 Fri, 28 Apr 2017 12:08:31 +0000 steveo 248232@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>It was a motorway, space was found, they just filled it with water. Tarmac the whole thing out to the bypass, boaters can cycle it from there and the kyak club can be given a clean pool somewhere else, maybe at Ratho. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248226 Fri, 28 Apr 2017 11:58:17 +0000 I were right about that saddle 248226@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>If this was a motor way space would be found. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248223 Fri, 28 Apr 2017 11:38:01 +0000 AKen 248223@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Unfortunately, there is very little space to widen it in many places. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248179 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 19:39:51 +0000 Murun Buchstansangur 248179@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I tend to agree with AKen and iwrats - without infra giving cyclists priority at virtually every junction between Fountainbridge and Longstone, the on-road route will be a hard sell to many cyclists, and even then you've got the significant gradient differences. </p> <p>The towpath does need to be wider in many places. There's not room for a cyclist to pass 2 people walking side-by-side, it's a recurring annoyance for all concerned.</p> <p>If the towpath itself (not the canal) could be prised out of the dead hand of British Waterways, I think we'd be in a better place for progress to be made. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248168 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 18:37:56 +0000 I were right about that saddle 248168@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I suspect the answer lies in un-scheduling what isn't so much a monument as a crucial, lovely and lively transport corridor.</p> <p>There is no prospect of infrastructure to match the hyperspace quality of the canal. It's a flat, car free leeap into the west of the city that will never be bettered.</p> <p>Un-scheduling, compulsory purchase, sympathetic enlargement, technological imagination. <em>Those</em> are things required.</p> <p>For those blanching in horror a thought experiment suffices. If monuments are scheduled for all eternity and added at any finite rate then as time tends to infinity the whole world tends to become scheduled. Why not decide which aspects of the canal are dear to us and retain just them? It must be possible or the bypass would have a huge flyover at the Scott-Maxwell and the canal path would have no runway lights. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248145 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 15:50:58 +0000 AKen 248145@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>Better infra along colington road, slateford road the answer. </em></p> <p>For many people, the infrastructure would need to be <strong>really</strong> good to be better than the uninterrupted, motor-traffic free and level option of the tow-path. (And when I say 'really good', I mean the kind of 'really good' that we never get in this country.)</p> <p>Even if there was a fully-segregated lane the length of Colinton Road/Gilmore Place from the Kings Theatre to Colinton, I'd still possibly choose the canal simply to avoid all the hills. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248117 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 14:26:36 +0000 cb 248117@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Or maybe it's time for a 3rd bridge. If we can do it over the River Forth... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248116 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 14:25:41 +0000 cb 248116@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>"A pet idea of mine for the aquaduct is a drawbridge or submerging platform that closes to turn the full width and length of the canal into the path when there isn't a boat passing"</em></p> <p>I've often thought that opening up the 'path' on the other side via a couple of simple boat-owner-operated lifting/swing bridges might work.</p> <p>Could be used by cyclists unless a boat was passing in which case you could just revert to standard conflict on the north side. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17668#post-248115 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 14:25:08 +0000 jdanielp 248115@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I've yet to be berated for not dismounting to cross the aqueduct so far this year, but it's only a matter of time as warmer weather looms. </p>