http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Leith Walk to Ocean Terminal Cycle Route (Leith Connections) en Tue, 19 May 2026 15:18:02 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=3#post-383698 Fri, 27 Mar 2026 17:48:38 +0000 Rob 383698@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><blockquote><em>I apparently failed to use the junction as designed when setting off from FOTW, because apparently I'm meant to see a green cycle signal and instead of crossing the junction, travel three metres ahead to where there the next cycle signal is on red, preventing me from being hit by vehicles turning left from FOTW. This is extroadinary in terms of design, as the pavement sweeps away to the left and places that signal essentially out of my focus on the lane ahead. Why have the first signal at all?</em></blockquote></p> <p>This is why I transfer to the bike box at the foot of the walk. When the main traffic light goes green you can go straight over to the cycle lane entrance, then immediately through the pedestrian crossing.</p> <p>I then have to wait at Henderson Street so I'm not sure how much time I save, but it sure is less annoying. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=3#post-383636 Tue, 24 Mar 2026 21:21:20 +0000 wingpig 383636@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I need to start remembering to not use the Junction St lane when heading east, as it has a classic "takes you across the junction then dumps you back into traffic" system like at the top of Leith Street, but busier. Alternatively, no-one's actually stopping me turning left down Constitution St and then cutting through Laurie St, apart from me.<br /> There are likely to be a couple more bits like this with a wait to cross from one side to the other when they put in the Hawthornvale-to-Seafield stuff. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=3#post-383635 Tue, 24 Mar 2026 20:05:32 +0000 LaidBack 383635@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@bakky - that's 'hectic' - expensively designed to fail or be ignored! There are other double cycle lights going up LW at London Road crossing. These at least are in line of sight.</p> <p>I was coming back from Leith Links and headed for Leith Walk Followed signage and ended up cutting onto the FOTW tram stop. No obvious altetnative. Some signs still suggest as a route and Google route planner agree!</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/66067108@N08/55166382751/in/datetaken/" title="Leith Links to Leith Walk missing link"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55166382751_ccff4655f9.jpg" alt="Leith Links to Leith Walk missing link" /></p> <p></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/66067108@N08/55166382766/in/datetaken/" title="Leith Links to Leith Walk missing link"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55166382766_eaf085fe3a.jpg" alt="Leith Links to Leith Walk missing link" /></a></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/66067108@N08/55166544738/in/datetaken/" title="Leith Links to Leith Walk missing link"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55166544738_c0a1f7e1cc.jpg" alt="Leith Links to Leith Walk missing link" /></a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=3#post-383616 Tue, 24 Mar 2026 10:17:31 +0000 bakky 383616@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Some further info:</p> <p>- The junction with FOTW is apparently not under FOTWtoDockSt project but instead Trams to Newhaven</p> <p>- I apparently failed to use the junction as designed when setting off from FOTW, because apparently I'm meant to see a green cycle signal and instead of crossing the junction, travel three metres ahead to where there the next cycle signal is on red, preventing me from being hit by vehicles turning left from FOTW. This is extroadinary in terms of design, as the pavement sweeps away to the left and places that signal essentially out of my focus on the lane ahead. Why have the first signal at all?</p> <p><a href="https://freeimage.host/i/q49dWMP"><img src="https://iili.io/q49dWMP.md.jpg"></a><br /> <em>Image, annotation and correction on design of junction courtesy of Martin McDonnell of Spokes</em></p> <p>What's more, once I reach the awkward turn for the cycleway on the other side, there's another signal I'm meant to comply with, avoiding moving over the pedestrian crossing from Kirkgate to FOTW:</p> <p><a href="https://freeimage.host/i/q49YdCP"><img src="https://iili.io/q49YdCP.md.jpg"></a><br /> <em>Image, annotation and correction on design of junction courtesy of Martin McDonnell of Spokes</em></p> <p>This is wild to me. As compared with the vehicular cycling alternative of exiting Leith Walk on green and turning left into Great Junction St, they've managaged to make this a three-stage crossing worth probably in excess of five minutes of waiting. And it's not particularly clear, given I've managed to record what should be an example of using it properly and failed to use it properly in the process! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-383615 Tue, 24 Mar 2026 10:13:45 +0000 chdot 383615@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55160528942_9f865ae8a6_c.jpg"></p> <p>(Not my photo)</p> <p>.Junction of Great Junction Street and Henderson StreeT</p> <p>Any others? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-383614 Tue, 24 Mar 2026 10:09:20 +0000 chdot 383614@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Anyone compiling a snagging list? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-383613 Tue, 24 Mar 2026 09:56:03 +0000 wingpig 383613@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I'm trying to use it but one of my common use cases is emerging from Giles Street (after going across the links, using the cycle path alongside the tennis courts, then cutting through Links Lane) to head to the WoL, whereupon I meet a solid kerb across the end of Parliament Street, without any access gaps until a bit to the north. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-383611 Tue, 24 Mar 2026 08:48:04 +0000 stiltskin 383611@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Actually in incident 5 ( &amp; this makes the design even worse ) the SUV is perfectly entitled to turn left when he does although he clearly should be aware of cyclists in the lane. He has passed the white stop line in the junction so he isn’t going through a red light. It’s the fact the the cycle lane takes you through the path of right turning traffic which causes the issue. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-383588 Sun, 22 Mar 2026 13:06:33 +0000 gembo 383588@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I loved that stretch when i went down it to Browns the other week. I mean i can see you would be in trouble if you tried to follow it in the. Way it was designed but I was on the pavement to avoid lights at the start But for the rest of it one Friday lunch time nice and quiet. Agree beer lorries etc will be a pain to look out for same as in Cowgate etc </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-383583 Sat, 21 Mar 2026 21:52:16 +0000 bakky 383583@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PFRkNjMN3E" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PFRkNjMN3E</a></p> <p>---</p> <p><strong>Issues:</strong></p> <p><strong>1] FOTW - westbound vehicles blocking the cycleway</strong> (0m18s, 0m55s in video) by crossing the junction when Great Junction St is not free to move into. This happened twice - in the first, earlier clip I moved around the vehicle and in the second clip I stayed put and pulled to the side to let other cyclists pass who fancied their chances (as I was trying to get a 'clean run' for the video!). I had to wait a full signal cycle to cross as a result.<br /> <strong>Potential solution?</strong> Yellow junction box painting, even if this is only ahead of the cycle crossing. And, while I'm writing wish lists that will never happen, enforcement of poor driving?</p> <p><strong>2] FOTW - arguably more dangerous - vehicles green light to proceed from Leith Walk is timed to show at the same time as the cycleway green.</strong> This puts advancing cycles into the path of left-turning vehicles!<br /> <strong>Potential solution?</strong> Time the cycle green signal so that it's a good twelve seconds or more ahead of cars moving ahead.</p> <p><strong>3] FOTW - the crossing angle</strong> (0m26s in video) from Leith Walk to the Great Junction St cycleway is extremely awkward. To head west, I need to begin by turning east, head across and then make an acute left turn into the cycleway. The 'no entry' for cars makes this fairly murky to look across at and comprehend.<br /> <strong>Potential solution?</strong> It does feel like there could be a tweak to put entry to the cycleway section closer to the pedestrian crossing. A right-angle is still not ideal, and admittedly I'm on a long and non-standard cycle (which is a decent test case, really).</p> <p><strong>4] Bottom of Henderson St</strong> (1m37s, 1m53s in video) - the delivery driver in the HGV appears to be making deliveries to Heron, on the corner. He has likely reversed into the cycleway thanks to the generous unkerbed gap facilitating a crossing here.<br /> <strong>Potential solution?</strong> Ideally any larger unkerbed space would have a bollard on the end (a la London Rd, Lasswade Rd) to prevent this kind of incursion. The other possibility is that he has bumped over the kerb; some of this comes down to enforcement but I would hope there's monitoring of particularly loading infractions where possible.</p> <p><strong>5] Henderson St into Great Junction St</strong> (2m8s, 2m23s in video) - in both clips here, westbound traffic is still waiting to turn from Great Junction St into Henderson St as it hasn't managed to before the light has turned red. In the second clip the highly necessarily tactical urban utility vehicle comes pretty close to hitting me - with his window open, he recieves some arguably restrained advice from me.<br /> <strong>Potential solution?</strong> Signal timing adjusted to halt eastbound traffic and wait 10s before releasing cycles to cross, or have a right-turn filter for westbound traffic headed into Henderston St.</p> <p>1, 2 and 5 are at the very least points of friction and for the latter two are real and present danger at these locations, as they stand - but hopefully there are tweaks that can be made here to avoid collisions. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-383582 Sat, 21 Mar 2026 21:15:22 +0000 chdot 383582@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Obviously I won’t be agreeing with what he has written, but I’m SHOCKED at how incoherent it is!</p> <p>Maybe there is a case for AI… </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-383581 Sat, 21 Mar 2026 20:30:14 +0000 bakky 383581@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>[Response preemptively redacted due to copious, rule-breaking yet highly accurate verbiage] </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-383580 Sat, 21 Mar 2026 20:24:18 +0000 Stickman 383580@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>A slightly <strike>unhinged </strike>different perspective on it from the always cheerful Cllr Whyte </p> <p><a href="https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/cycle-scheme-for-the-middle-class-few-not-the-many-iain-whyte-6033512" rel="nofollow">https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/cycle-scheme-for-the-middle-class-few-not-the-many-iain-whyte-6033512</a></p> <p><blockquote>the bits of cycle lane that are used only assist the young fit middle class and their modern day “servants”, the takeaway delivery riders on e-bikes. This is truly a scheme created by the middle-class in left-wing political parties for the middle class few, not the many.</blockquote> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-383579 Sat, 21 Mar 2026 19:21:29 +0000 bakky 383579@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><strong>Video update:</strong></p> <p>For the first time, I've been able to do side-by-side comparison videos of a route once it's been built, with before and after footage; this has meant a couple of bits of slowing/speeding the older footage to match up locations, but I think the results are pretty decent.</p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U7KQ8CwO8Q" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U7KQ8CwO8Q</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZxknyFO1EI" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZxknyFO1EI</a></p> <p>I also have quite a good blooper real from a previous attempt at filming the new route (I decided the angle was too low, and re-shot after the opening event) - but includes some good 'teething issues' / feedback opportunities for the project team. Will post here when I cut it together.</p> <p>If you want to see the full raft of footage the uncropped and realtime journeys are all on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQUz1bBhazI0X4TXrbtX7cA">Youtube page</a>. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-377160 Mon, 04 Nov 2024 10:49:40 +0000 Rob 377160@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>There was an update on Leith Connections a couple of weeks ago - <a href="https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/cycling-walking-projects-1/leith-connections/9" rel="nofollow">https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/cycling-walking-projects-1/leith-connections/9</a></p> <p><blockquote><br /> <em><br /> Construction work will start this autumn on the new walking, wheeling and cycling route between<br /> Foot of the Walk and Ocean Terminal. The first phase of work will be on Great Junction Street,<br /> Henderson Street, Sandport Place and Dock Street. Alongside safer cycling facilities connecting<br /> south towards the city centre, this new route will also:<br /> • provide new signalised pedestrian crossings on Great Junction Street<br /> • improve pavements<br /> • install new soft landscaping areas<br /> • make permanent changes to the temporary arrangement at Sandport Place Bridge<br /> • make Yardheads and Parliament Street accessible for motor vehicles only from Cables<br /> Wynd<br /> </em><br /> </blockquote> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-376607 Tue, 17 Sep 2024 15:25:26 +0000 bakky 376607@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Ahead of construction starting, I went out on Friday morning to capture the route on film for some 'Before' footage, to be able to hopefully later split-screen the route when completed.</p> <p>The council's Roadworks doc has a TBC start date of 23rd September; the Scottish Road Works Online portal still says (as it has for some time) 21st October.</p> <p>On the way down (and back up again) I also filmed both ways of Roseburn Park, CCWEL, and Picardy Place / Leith Walk. All of which (along with the below) I have been putting up on the sort-of-neutral-territory <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQUz1bBhazI0X4TXrbtX7cA">'Edi Cycle Infra' Youtube channel.</a></p> <p>Because of the council's inability to build the whole of a named route at once, the films are split into FOTW to Dock Street, where the protected infra they're about to build gives up, and Dock St to Ocean Terminal, which will remain in traffic until the Leith Connections Phase 3 work is funded and built providing segregated lanes from Seafield to Ocean Terminal and beyond (Hawthornvale?).</p> <p><em>(With apologies for how jangly bakky is with the lockride / padlock over setts) </em></p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq5vs_j0A4g" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq5vs_j0A4g</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW6gB_vZZbI" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW6gB_vZZbI</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkpnwQRIntk" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkpnwQRIntk</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR5QQ8wls_k" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR5QQ8wls_k</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-359174 Sat, 26 Mar 2022 17:07:10 +0000 chdot 359174@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I mean is <em>anything</em> ‘planned’? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-359173 Sat, 26 Mar 2022 16:51:47 +0000 ejstubbs 359173@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>If by bollards you mean the kind of lane defenders that have been deployed for the SfP schemes then I don't reckon them to be particularly effective at deterring illegal/obstructive parking, at least going by what I've seen/encountered along Comiston Road and Lanark Road these past few weeks. The standard spacing seems to leave just sufficient room between two lane defenders for a determinedly obstructive car or van driver to neatly parallel park their vehicle against the kerb between them (and of course with no regard for the actual parking restrictions on the relevant stretch of road, as indicated by the DYLs). </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-359171 Sat, 26 Mar 2022 14:37:17 +0000 chdot 359171@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>“will allow bollards to be installed“</p> <p>Are they planned? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-359170 Sat, 26 Mar 2022 14:20:01 +0000 Murun Buchstansangur 359170@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>“ The 30cm-50cm "segregation" on the carriageway side is pointless.”</p> <p>They will however will allow bollards to be installed to deter pavement/cycle path parking, as I think we all know that will ultimately be necessary… </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-359168 Sat, 26 Mar 2022 13:17:00 +0000 Morningsider 359168@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Doesn't look too bad. My main concern is over-engineering - which leads to additional costs. The 30cm-50cm "segregation" on the carriageway side is pointless. Simply dead space. They are too narrow to prevent dooring and do not seem to deter parking. They also require lots of extra materials and time to build. They aren't used in the Netherlands or Denmark - who know a thing or two about cycle lane design. Why not just have that as extra cycleway width? Would fix the issue @Yodhrin highlights regarding passing at narrow points. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-359148 Fri, 25 Mar 2022 20:50:12 +0000 Yodhrin 359148@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Not crazy, just unnecessary IMO. Car-brained design assumes that people will speed if you don't design-in calming measures to stop them, and for motor vehicles that's true because you're encased in a sound-dampening two-tonne metal cocoon explicitly designed to cut off as much sensation of the outside world as possible and make you feel safe even at motorway speeds - people on bikes understand fine well that if they hit a pedestrian they're going to be as hurt as the ped if not more, and that understanding doesn't go away in the ~10m of a bus stop bypass. The people designing this stuff still have a mental image of "cycling" comprised of six dudes riding in a tight 2x3 pack in full lycra gear hunched over aero road bikes pelting along roads at 20mph+, and think if they don't fill urban cycle lanes with twists and turns and narrowings it's going to be carnage, grannies mowed down by the dozen, when the reality is most folk will be pootling along at 8-15mph and will slow right the hell down anywhere they see a potential ped conflict of their own accord, because they don't want to repaint the tarmac with their skin.</p> <p>Also, recall that the designs for Leith Walk had nice smooth curves on them as well, and in practice what we got were hard angles that narrowed the usable track width even more than the plans dictated.</p> <p>There's also the accessibility issue to consider - narrowing to less than 3m seems fine if your intention is to allow two slow-moving road bikes to pass each other, but throw in a dutch upright with wide handlebars, or a trike, or a handcycle, or a trailer with a kid in it and you have a situation where one direction of traffic is going to have to stop to let the other scoot past. </p> <p>Again, these are a vast, vast improvement over the current situation, but they still don't feel like the plans of a city that is seriously trying to achieve a 20%+ modal share. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-359142 Fri, 25 Mar 2022 18:46:17 +0000 CycleAlex 359142@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I don't really see the traffic calming for bikes you're referring to? Narrows at bus stops/junction but doesn't seem crazy. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-359139 Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:16:11 +0000 Yodhrin 359139@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Hmm. Doesn't give many specific numbers there, but based on a few of the "proposed X metre" features it seems like that bidirectional track narrows to less than 3m in some places. Also seems like they still have the 1960's school in charge of the designs, given the amount of "traffic calming" for bicycles.</p> <p>I know we should just be grateful we're getting segregated routes, but they're <em>eventually</em> going to stop fannying about and just copy how things are done in the Netherlands right? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-359136 Fri, 25 Mar 2022 13:54:49 +0000 CycleAlex 359136@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>First part of the TRO process for this project has started. Designs: <a href="https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/file/30779/tro-21-22" rel="nofollow">https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/file/30779/tro-21-22</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-350929 Sat, 22 May 2021 19:59:14 +0000 chdot 350929@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>“now that we've consulted I'm sure all opposition Cllrs will immediately support the scheme“</p> <p>After they’ve said that the responders were self-selected/biased/unrepresentative?? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-350926 Sat, 22 May 2021 18:49:17 +0000 CycleAlex 350926@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Consultation reports are up.<br /> Cycle route: <a href="https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/leith-connections/results/leithconnections_fotwtoot_finalreport_v.3.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/leith-connections/results/leithconnections_fotwtoot_finalreport_v.3.pdf</a></p> <p>LTN: <a href="https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/leith-connections/results/leithconnectionsltn_finalreport_v.5.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/leith-connections/results/leithconnectionsltn_finalreport_v.5.pdf</a></p> <p>Strong support for improving walking/cycling. Majority support for the segregated route, removing parking and for closing/filtering Yardheads/Parliament Street/Sandport Place Bridge/The Shore/Coburg Street.</p> <p>Right then, now that we've consulted I'm sure all opposition Cllrs will immediately support the scheme. Right...? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-347752 Sat, 06 Mar 2021 00:38:17 +0000 wingpig 347752@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>That was a slog, but its the most pertinent to me of any consultation yet encountered (particularly having been for a walk with children somewhere round Leith pretty much every day for the last year) so deserved the effort. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-347713 Fri, 05 Mar 2021 14:34:43 +0000 crowriver 347713@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@CycleAlex, thanks for the reminder. Consultation done.</p> <p>Second week in a row I've overcome consultation fatigue to "do the right thing". Must be the spring air... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20486&page=2#post-347703 Fri, 05 Mar 2021 11:58:24 +0000 neddie 347703@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Ah, the old "tall building" distraction technique. Classic! </p>