CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure

Removal of Cycle Lane

(22 posts)
  • Started 9 years ago by Rob
  • Latest reply from I were right about that saddle

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  1. Rob
    Member

    This may seem like a weird topic for a cycling forum but bear with me! The cycle lane I'd like to nominate for removal is along Craigentinny Road:

    Street view

    Street view

    It is completely unusable for most of its length (door zone? More like "mirror zone"). The parts where it is usable are likely to leave you boxed in at the numerous pinch points.

    Would anyone here use it? Were cycle lanes like these really designed for cyclists? I think I'd get less close passes and "grief" if they weren't there at all.

    Does anyone else have a cycle lane to nominate?

    Posted 9 years ago #

  2. Ed1
    Member

    possibly not

    Posted 9 years ago #

  3. Stickman
    Member

    The "cycle lane" on Morrison St between Torphichen and Haymarket.

    It sandwiches cyclists between lanes of moving traffic. You wouldn't advise filtering between two buses, but it could put you in that position if two come up behind and pass by.

    It does nothing to make cyclists safer, and encourages driver aggression. You have to be pretty confident to take the lane instead.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  4. crowriver
    Member

    I use this Craigentinny route all the time to get to Telferton. Yes, it is pretty crap but that route is preferable to the much busier London Road/Portobello Road or Seafield Road alternatives. Though Seafield Road does have a very usable shared use path, to get to Telferton you have to forgo nearly all of this nice path, or go the long way round and cut back along Portobello High Street...

    As for the close passes, these will happen regardless of a bit of paint on the tarmac, as we all know. Pinch points are, in my view, best ridden by 'taking the lane' (but shoulder check first in case an impatient drivist is about to try an overtake imminently).

    Posted 9 years ago #

  5. Luath
    Member

    I'm with Erob. The trouble with these 'cycle lanes' is that a number of drivers, over and above those that would give you close pass anyway, believe that cyclists *must* be in the lane and that any other position is a deliberate attempt to get in the way of their very important lives.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  6. 559
    Member

    West Granton Road, usually covered with parked cars. total waste of money.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  7. Morningsider
    Member

    Don't ask the Council to remove bike lanes - ask them to improve them.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  8. crowriver
    Member

    Absolutely, Morningsider.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  9. Rob
    Member

    Valid point. My initial post may have been a bit too negative, perhaps "Redesign an Unusable Cycle Lane" would've been a better approach! Your suggestion sent me down a much more positive line of thinking.

    So, what are the problems here?

    • Cycle lanes intermittently overlapped by parked cars, encouraging cyclists to weave in and out of the lane
    • Cycle lanes too narrow through pinch points

    After browsing through all sorts of fancy options in the Sustrans Design Manual I came up with a simpler idea:

    1. Remove the parking from one side of the road
    2. Widen the parking bay on the remaining side
    3. Widen the cycle lanes

    Posted 9 years ago #

  10. gembo
    Member

    Yes. Would be good if the dual carriageway from Gillespie crossroads down to slateford was turned into a bike bus lane and a car lane. Fair few pinch points at islands across and cars parked on the road. Sadly as you may know this was where Andrew mcnichol was killed.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  11. Snowy
    Member

    Question: if a lane is signed for 'bus/taxi/cycles only', and it is marked by a solid white line, does that make it mandatory for cycles during the hours of operation? Is it an offence to for a cycle to leave that lane in order, for example, to overtake a stopped bus?

    Posted 9 years ago #

  12. Snowy
    Member

    Following on from that, how do people feel about mandatory cycle lanes versus advisory lanes? Would that be considered an upgrade?
    We know the problems with advisory lanes, e.g. that they are often a bit of PR and are frequently useless, irrelevant, and unenforceable. Yet, mandatory lanes may force an unsafe inflexibility in road position for the cyclist..and in Edinburgh, drivers simply aren't used to them and may not know the difference.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  13. Klaxon
    Member

    Solid white lines mark cycle only lanes, and just like bus lanes, cycles can leave any time. The only 'mandatory' cycle lanes in the sense you suggest would be one adjacent to a road where cycling is explicitly prohibited like the A1.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  14. gembo
    Member

    Mandatory should mean cars cannot park in them. This seems not to be possible see even darker sides Glasgow segregated path which has illegal car wash in the middle.

    Putting the cycle lane outside the parking is admitting defeat. Can work but leaves you susceptible to car dooring and well out in primary.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  15. crowriver
    Member

    Mandatory cycle lanes simply mean that motor vehicles are not allowed to enter them: like bus lanes during the hours of operation. It does not mean that bikes cannot leave them (how would you turn right?) just as buses can leave the bus lane f they wish or need to...

    Posted 9 years ago #

  16. fimm
    Member

    @gembo I had a go at that road myself.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  17. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    I've often pondered the question of whether or not the bike lane across the middle of the Old Dalkeith Road/Lady Road roundabout should be removed or left as a monument to absurdist cycle infrastructure.

    Anybody ever used it?

    Posted 9 years ago #

  18. wingpig
    Member

    I pondered that not long ago and a couple of people said it was useful, if you knew the timings.
    Min and Rabid Hamster. Amir said he'd seen someone on it once, too.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  19. Min
    Member

    Yes, I used it when the lights were right. I thought it was handy. I have also seen other people using it.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  20. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @Min

    Intriguing. I suppose I should give it a whirl to see if my prejudices are at all justified.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  21. Min
    Member

    I employed it going from Lady Road to Dalkeith Road and if the lights were red at the roundabout. If they aren't, I am not sure how you are supposed to get on to it without getting killed.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  22. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @Min

    Right, that's my jets cooled.

    Posted 9 years ago #

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