CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Want to see a better Rocheid Path?

CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Want to see a better Rocheid Path? http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Want to see a better Rocheid Path? en Thu, 21 May 2026 13:05:32 +0000 kaputnik on "Want to see a better Rocheid Path?" http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4219#post-44037 Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:57:45 +0000 kaputnik 44037@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ Yes it does all look like it was done by simply drawing a line around central Edinburgh with a marker pen on an O/S map, making no consideration for the topology (or the volcanic substrate you would have to try tunnel through!) I often think cycling infrastructure is designed this way. Someone does a nice top-down CAD drawing of the arrangement, thinks "ooh, this looks nice", then the roads people are sent out to build the thing according to plans. Nobody actually goes along and looks at it at ground level and considers how end users (cyclists, pedestrians, cars) might actually interact with it. The nonsense over-elaborate and utterly confusing maze of an arrangement at intersection of Melville Drive and Argyle Place is a great example. I go that way every day and it still confuses me as to how I'm really "meant" to go through it. I just do what seems sensible. chdot on "Want to see a better Rocheid Path?" http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4219#post-44034 Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:50:37 +0000 chdot 44034@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ "Was it to be a tunnel under or a birdge over Waverley station?" BUT whether it could all have been built is another matter. The last part that was still planned in the mid 70s was the Bridges Relief Road - St. Leonards to Picardy Place. I did a route profile and didn't see how it was possible to get a road under The Royal Mile and over the station. At a press conference I asked the Director of Highways if the route had been surveyed. He said No. Reminds me of the time I helped a mate demolish a room-dividing wall in a Georgian House as part of a restoration/upgrade job. The architect had drawn up plans 'showing' that the ceiling level was different on each side of the wall! Strange. DaveC on "Want to see a better Rocheid Path?" http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4219#post-44032 Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:48:38 +0000 DaveC 44032@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ Looking at the plans it looked like a tunnet under Leith Street to Waterloo Place then over a bridge to the top of Jeffrys street. I'm glad they didn't pursue the plan also as it would have changed the make up of Edinburgh beyond belief and turning back the clock (i.e. removing roads) is near impossible in thie day and age. I'm reminded of every other city I've visited with huge tracks of land given to traffic flying past, it creats dead areas. Think of the elevated setions above the M8 around Cowcaddens. Every other elevated stretch of motorway is similar in some respects. At least rail sections have arches which businesses occupy. kaputnik on "Want to see a better Rocheid Path?" http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4219#post-44026 Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:30:46 +0000 kaputnik 44026@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ Was it to be a tunnel under or a birdge over Waverley station? Stepdoh on "Want to see a better Rocheid Path?" http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4219#post-44015 Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:54:34 +0000 Stepdoh 44015@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ It's a path I use on the nursery run, not too keen on it from a cycling point of view. So much so that I run the gauntlet of the Cannonmills junction more usually now. It's a nice walk though, and I'm not sure I'd love to see it tarmacced, possibly flattened a wee bit. Just imagine how 60s futuristic Embra would look with an elevated highway. What's more worrying is that this plan was only 'Stage one' chdot on "Want to see a better Rocheid Path?" http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4219#post-44004 Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:30:53 +0000 chdot 44004@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ TODAY Anyone going? (It's north of Princes Street) crowriver on "Want to see a better Rocheid Path?" http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4219#post-43892 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:31:49 +0000 crowriver 43892@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ @wingpig, those plans are completely insane. A1(M) through Duddingston village and round by the crags? A motorway through the Meadows? Thank goodness for the oil crisis I say. Mind you, fashion, money and expensive oil haven't stopped Glasgow from pressing ahead with their motorways on stilts... Wilmington's Cow on "Want to see a better Rocheid Path?" http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4219#post-43889 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:19:28 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 43889@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ Although I like the idea of a bike lane slung underneath - separated from everything and with a natural rain cover above. Of course there are some downsides, wind blowing you off, and a lack of easy access... wingpig on "Want to see a better Rocheid Path?" http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4219#post-43888 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:17:58 +0000 wingpig 43888@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ Ignoring the possibilities for big fat stilted roads being congested and slow, imagine how much more embedded would the car=faster assumption (usually false over city-centre distances) be if there was a big fat stilted road linking A and B instead of a selection of piggledy cobbledy streets and lots of traffic lights with a few pinch-points and one-way restrictions... chdot on "Want to see a better Rocheid Path?" http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4219#post-43886 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:10:16 +0000 chdot 43886@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ Useful find Wingpig. They were serious. As I've said before, Edinburgh's innate conservatism meant that things dragged on without decisions being taken, so that big urban road schemes were no longer fashionable - or affordable. Edinburgh didn't get the roads, but is still gripped by 'cars more important than people' attitudes. wingpig on "Want to see a better Rocheid Path?" http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4219#post-43878 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:42:35 +0000 wingpig 43878@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ I finally got round to Googling for a <a href="http://www.paulzie.com/photos/displayimage-21--960.html#top_display_media">map</a> of the proposed city-centre roads-on-stilts inner ring road thing after seeing it mentioned many times. Eep. chdot on "Want to see a better Rocheid Path?" http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4219#post-43875 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:32:09 +0000 chdot 43875@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ " ROCHEID PATH TO RECOVERY Monday, 24 October 2011 A new group – Friends of the Rocheid Path – has formed to make sure the popular beauty-spot and pedestrian/cycle route between Arboretum Avenue and Inverleith Terrace Lane is better looked after. Founders want to see the area replanted and enhanced, particularly once extensive and highly disruptive flood-defence measures on the Water of Leith are completed in 2012. The group's first Annual General Meeting will take place tomorrow evening at Edinburgh Academy. To receive the group’s news and details of future meetings, email: <a href="mailto:therocheidpath@gmail.com">therocheidpath@gmail.com</a> " <a href="http://www.broughtonspurtle.org.uk/news/rocheid-path-recovery" rel="nofollow">http://www.broughtonspurtle.org.uk/news/rocheid-path-recovery</a> Rocheid was once intended to be obliterated by Edinburgh's Inner Ring Road plans. The flood prevention work won't be quite as damaging - in the long term.