No doubt that section in 2022 will be to a completely different design to the existing two completely different designs already on Leith Walk!
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Leith Walk Project
(1161 posts)-
Posted 6 years ago #
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"So no segregated cycle route to the top of Leith Walk until 2022..."
Yep. You can thank the St James developers for that. Of course, everyone will blame the trams...
I'm now beginning to doubt whether I'll be able to enjoy a safer cycling route into the city centre even once I'm retired...
Posted 6 years ago # -
what the update doesn't say is what will be lost with tram, ie a few sections of cyclepath in Phase 4 and of course most of Leith Walk will be ripped up north of Pilrig Street as the design doesn't take account of Tram
Posted 6 years ago # -
I'm now beginning to doubt whether my kids'll be able to enjoy a safer cycling route into the city centre even once I'm dead...
FTFY
Posted 6 years ago # -
As long as the resurfacing work goes ahead; they cant leave that cratered surface and attendant 'unclear' bus lanes/DYL/greenways in place until 2022. And if there are no plans for enforcement, they might as well not waste the paint.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Motion 9.3 by Chas Booth was passed at the Transport Committee this morning.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Notably -
"
4) Agrees that public consultation on proposed changes to the Picardy Place junction should take place as soon as possible;
5) Agrees that the redesign of a significant city centre junction and surrounding streets presents an opportunity for traffic reduction, development of active travel infrastructure, and improvement of the public realm;
"
Posted 6 years ago # -
Transport Committee will look at Picardy Place layout again
The deputation explained that there is still too much emphasis on motor traffic at this huge roundabout or gyrator and that this is not conducive to safe cycling.
They asked why the carriageway is still four lanes wide at some points, and wondered whether the space not be best given over to pedestrians and cyclists...
Posted 6 years ago # -
Oh great, more fiddling while the rest of us have to use a cratered roadsurface. In this instance there even is an excuse for doing it quick and dirty if it will have to be redone anyway once they decide to send the trams down to Newhaven/squander more millions on their train set (delete as appropriate).
Posted 6 years ago # -
And do the Transport Committee not know that cyclists use roads?
Posted 6 years ago # -
@mgj realistically nothing will be happening with Picardy Place for quite a few years, it will come after the bulk of the new development, so there's plenty of fiddling time while nothing gets done. Fiddling on this account won't hold any changes up.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@mgj
And do the Transport Committee not know that cyclists use roads?
No.
Posted 6 years ago # -
CCE got the redoubtable Councillor Hinds on a bike and from what I hear the new chair is also bike curious.
Got to start somewhere.
Posted 6 years ago # -
The proportion of cyclists on the Transport Committee is certainly well above that of the general population. Don't think it's quite 50% (yet).
Posted 6 years ago # -
Also of interest is what proportion of the Council's Roads department cycle (in a transport sense, rather than leisure). They might just do something right if they actually experience the issues on the a daily basis.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Do council employees get free or discounted bus passes or any sort of parking charge discount which might skew their chosen transport mode distribution?
Posted 6 years ago # -
they have a bike to work scheme!!
Posted 6 years ago # -
They can buy an annual bus pass with an interest free loan from the council
Posted 6 years ago # -
I got a foretaste of the traffic chaos we can look forward to for the next year once the Leith Street closure diversion is in place. 6pm this evening, total gridlock on Easter Road and also surrounding side streets. Nothing moving at all. Lots of frustrated rat runners not able to run anywhere. Can't have been much fun for bus passengers either. I cruised past on the Pashley Pronto, literally whistling a tune in the evening sunshine.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I've had an inquiry for tips for travelling between Leith and the City Centre. Can anyone come up with ideas?
Posted 6 years ago # -
Rosie, up the Water of Leith? Or if too windy, up Easter road and over abbey hill is more direct?
Posted 6 years ago # -
A taste for diesel fumes and no fear of taking primary over the Picardy Roundabout
NEPN + Dublin St lightest traffic but a hell of a hill to tackle on cobbles
Posted 6 years ago # -
Easter Rd is tolerable if one can confidently filter past the daily quarter mile queue leading up to London Rd but wouldn't suggest it as a viable route for anyone in any direction right now as the new gyratory will mean having to cross 3 lanes of traffic twice to reach Holyrood or Regent Road
Me, bitter?
It's an abominable situation
Posted 6 years ago # -
Dublin St lightest traffic but a hell of a hill to tackle on cobbles
?
No cobbles on Dublin St (apart from any that appear through the potholes...), but can confirm it is a ridiculous hill to include on a cycle network. Proper "let's stick cyclists out of the way" stuff.Posted 6 years ago # -
"I've had an inquiry for tips for travelling between Leith and the City Centre. Can anyone come up with ideas?"
Which bit of Leith? Which bit of the centre? What sort of time? What sort of experience/inureditude?
The various bits of disruption around the place mean there is no single southward solution, but if I can't be bothered with traffic I go up Claremont Road (to avoid the single-width remaining lane between parked cars on Restalrig Road), Restalrig Road, Lochend Drive, Marionville Road, a wee bit of London Road, Abbey Lane, Horse Wynd, sub-Crags path, Pollock roundabouts then the Parkside/Innocent feeder path. Replace Restalrig Road/Lochend Drive/Marionville Road with Restalrig Railway Path, Hawkhill, Lochend Butterfly Way, Sainsbury Cut-Through if confident of an absence of post-association-shoutball-performance-spectator-derived glass on the bike path or cut-through. Early enough, Leith Walk is almost worth the straightforwardness as far as the London Road roundabout. Hawkhill/Albion Road/Place/Crawford Bridge/Edina Place/Montgomery Street minimises exposure to the solid cars on Easter Road, but still hits the London Road roundabout.
Posted 6 years ago # -
For those that have taken to cutting past the "Urban Eden" development from Moray Park (aka Meadowbank Sainsburys) to get to the Easter Road direction, apparently the next phase of the Faux Colonies is going to block this route off for the foreseeable future. Access to Urbane Den will be only from Moray Park side, no access to/from the Lochend Butterfly bridge on foot, bike or by vehicle.
This means that the only way from Meadowbank to Easter Road is through the gyratory (i.e. up the hill at Montrose Terrace and back down the top bit of Easter Road). Or to double back on yourself as far back as Lochend Park.
Hmmm.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I only discovered that cut-through from Sainsburys last week and now they pull it from under me! Infamy, infamy.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Now the route has been open for quite some time this has wider implications and surely requires a TTRO like fountainbridge
That is a LOT of people in the Lochend Butterfly and the Albions about to be cut off from their closest shop and the London Road buses, never mind its value as a through route while the Easter Rd deathtrap gyratory is operating
Posted 6 years ago # -
No cobbles on Dublin St but there are on Drummond Pl and Scotland St which form a part of the same route
This part of the New Town isn't immune from bad driving and attracts drivers of expensive vehicles with heavy right feet.
As has been pointed out before for specific advice need to know where in Leith as tips from the links will be quite different than from Shore
Posted 6 years ago # -
I have a friend in one of the Urbane Den flats who is my source of gen on this as they find out stuff from the block factors.
Phase 2 of the Den development is the southern end of the triangle, and eventually will include the through-route to Crawford Bridge and also a proper through-route to the Lochend Butterfly bridge.
Given that route is the only practical link to the shops and was well established as a desire line well before the development came along, there should be some sort of precedent to maintain foot access through.
Posted 6 years ago #
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