CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
"A spokeswoman for the city council said there was a priority list for potholes, where the worst are fixed straight away and less serious ones are mended as soon as is possible."
That's good...
So is -
"
She said: "We will look into this issue".
"
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topstories/Restaurant-owner-says-trade-hit.6551886.jp
where the worst are fixed straight away
Define "straight away"
(i.e. "never")
Potholes are really annoying.
Recently I feel there are more and more 'tarmac waves' (not sure what else to call them) - big ridges of tarmac usually in the direction of the road. They can be very difficult to see and force you off your line. Am I imagining this?
define 'fixed'. what is fixed for cars ie 'patched' often seems worse on a bike.
Don't know about "more and more" but they tend to appear near bus stops.
Leith Street (down) is pretty bad.
tarmac waves...
...Am I imagining this?
No. They are definitely there. I think it's caused by a slight subsidence under the road surface, the weight of heavy vehicles rolling over the top then causes the tarmac to be squished out in the direction of travel. Hence they seem to appear around bus stops, the mechanical force applied to the road over and over in the same spot when the bus accelerates away would seem to be part of the problem.
There's quite a few of these on my commute. One that springs to mind is here, you can see it running to the right from the "S" of BUS;
It's a particularly bad bit of the road as traffic during rush hour can't be bothered to wait behind the cars (Megane in that picutre) turning right, and filters into the bus lane to pass it without checking behind them or indicating (white Van in that photo).
Some of them on corners are quite fun as it gives you a miniature banking to zoom around :)
define 'fixed'. what is fixed for cars ie 'patched' often seems worse on a bike.
Couldn't agree more. Worst offender for this on my commute is West Coates from the old railway bridge at Roseburn heading east. Problem here is the green bus lane coating decomposing and exposing the very rough and uneven surface underneath. Seems to be due to a large number of "cuts" that have been made in the surface and not sealed up - I could only imagine that something like a buzz saw could achieve this.
Every time the Cooncil fixes something, someone comes along immediately after and ruins it again; either traffic or utilities...
Regular bus routes throughout the city suffer from 'tarmac waves' and 'ScottishWatercoversinks'. To be fair to Cooncil there was a glut of large patch repairs done in Minto St/East Preston St area recently, and although they did a good job they are showing signs of tar migrating again. The whole route from Salisbury into town centre still has many 'tarmac waves etc, which can be disconcerting for less regular cyclists. I did have one wet day incident when my 26" Schwalbe Extremes (semi-slicks) slipped off one of the longitudinal waves; this could catch and throw an unwary cyclist to the ground only to end up as roadkill! Some of the offending SW covers get marked with blue spray and hopefully this is a sign that they are on someone's 'to do' list. I think the only way to solve 'tarmac waves' at bus stops is to put in a 'granolithic' concrete 'raft' with re-bar embedded to airfield runway standard, sealed at edges with bitumen joint and long enough to accomodate queuing buses (prime candidates being both sides of North Bridge). A lot of garage forecourts have similar which has to be fuel spill proof, expensive but worth it in longer term. Various bus companies should contribute, but that'll be an excuse to put fares up! If you want a good example of poor utility re-instatement look at the mess SW made at top of Old Fishmarket Close to the expensive setts laid in resin by Land Engineering; walk/cycle up street to opposite St Giles and see/feel the very recent Scotia Gas re-instatement 4 setts wide right across High St back filled with cold tar; will these utilities ever come back or pay for full re-instatement; I doubt it? Will the Roadworks Commissioner fine them? I doubt it?
_that's_ why I ride a big heavy hybrid with chunky tyres!
Another classic instance of tarmac waves is the entirety of Braid Avenue and most of Woodburn Terrace. Here the waves all lie across the road and are probably related to vehicle braking plus creep of the entire surface, given that the waves are also on uphill sections. There is nothing quite like it for knocking your speed right down.
I think we could quite reasonably build an entire Flickr gallery of those huge scoops-out of tarmac that buses create.
"I think we could quite reasonably build an entire Flickr gallery of those huge scoops-out of tarmac that buses create."
Good idea, after you -
My favourite ones are the braking bumps on Drum Brae Drive just before the Clermiston Inn coming down the hill, the 26 every 35 seconds must takes its toll eventually.
It can't help that the new low-floor buses weigh in at almost twice what the old high-floor ones did and have an engine nearly twice as powerful
(a google suggests 10.4 tonnes and c. 130-160bhp for an old Leyland Atlantean vs. 19.4 tonnes and 300bhp for a new Volvo B9TL, both dominant in Lothian fleets of past and present)
Since to quote wiki:
[quote]Road damage rises steeply with axle weight, and is estimated "as a rule of thumb... for reasonably strong pavement surfaces" to be proportional to the fourth power of the axle weight. This means that doubling the axle weight will increase road damage (2x2x2x2)=16 times.
you are no doubt right.
this would make one bus ~ (20000/100)^4 = 1.6 billion bicycles
this would make one bus ~ (20000/100)^4 = 1.6 billion bicycles
...so that's why we need trams then? Or lighter buses? :-)
Tarmac waves are most certainly present in London, and started occurring when the old routemasters were scrapped and replaced. Craters and crevasses also started appearing at bus stops due to the shorter braking distance and fast take offs of the new buses. It also became extremely hazardous trying to get off the things, with air brakes, and drivers stopping on a sixpence (5p)causing passengers to be very rapidly propelled forwards or slammed into the side of the stairs, and the engine being turbo charged thus allowing the vehicle to take off at an alarming rate too. When the wave is about a foot from the pavement with the associated dip next to it, it became a nightmare cycling on really busy routes. There were some very interesting waves on George Street at the junction of either Castle or Frederick street heading towards St Andrew's sq, frightening...
I am sure it was only about three years ago that the whole of Minto Street, Mayfield Gardens, and Craigmillar Park down to the Lady Road roundabout was resurfaced, parts of which are absolutely appalling now and have been repaired two and three times, mostly due to the tarmac waves and associated dip adjacent. As for when you turn onto the Gilmerton road off Craigmillar Park you have to weave in and out of the craters where there are manholes and to avoid the covers for other utilities that are standing proud of the surface, made more hazardous by the fact that cars are trying to get past you before being squeezed by a traffic island, a thing of nightmares! I can fathom no reason for the traffic island, the council have got rid of every other one at that junction. In fact that is another bug bear, why have they removed the majority of traffic islands? They made crossing the road as a pedestrian a lot less hazardous if you were not quick enough to get across in one go in that you could shelter on the island, and also they usually had a set of lights for car drivers. One particular incidence of the need for this set of lights on an island is at the end of Princes Street and the straight on for Carlton Tce. I was waiting for the filter to turn right onto the bridges when a beamer shot past me on my right through the red light, because the next set of lights had gone green to go straight on, the ones outside the Balmoral were still red. I could understand the confusion, and it was just as well nothing was coming off North Bridge, or it could have been very messy.
(Hi, I'm Ross. I'm new here and to cycling in the City)
Just to pitch in about the bus tarmac waves - buses do seem to cause a lot of damage - especially on the main bus routes. I stay on London Road and the surface as you come off Leith St onto London Rd is quite bad. In quiet conditions you can hit it quite fast and it is really difficult to notice the damaged areas.
The entirety of Leith Walk is much the same - I usually ride on the hoods in the City but found myself holding onto the drops when I was heading down to Leith yesterday morning - needing something to grab on to.
Lastly" Princes St - for a road less than a year old it is in one hell of a state. The sealing around the tracks is, in places, poor but the other ironwork on the road is almost dangerous. And there is some subsidence.
Do the bus companies have to contribute to road infrastructure improvement? Or when new routes are introduced pay to upgrade infrastructure?
Still, anything to my my ride more exciting :-)
*waves* hi ross!
lovely waves on morningside road, sould be fun if there wern't so much traffic.
anyone ever fell down the massive hole in the roundabout where old dalkeith road meets cameron toll, on the way to the hospital? its a pit!
That's on my route and if you plan your line well you can scoot through on the little piece of tar remaining between the 2 massive gashes in the road. It's just before you go under the bridge and may be related to recoveries of the various HGV 'bridge strike' victims that regularly occur there, with subsequent edge erosion making them much worse. Everyone that pedals to ERI will be well aware of this one. It is always a race track and cars getting lanes wrong as they go under the bridge! The Cooncil at least had the money to freshen up the white lines on the Cameron Toll side of the junction.
"Transport committee agrees £120k to combat potholes at bus stops caused by double deckers battering road." @adamrmcvey
Transport committee agrees £120k to combat potholes at bus stops caused by double deckers battering road
CCE called that 4 years ago!
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