Observing the forum rules, I have to say that design is ****ing ****.
It's entirely wrong for the site, entirely wrong for the direction the city claims it is heading in, and, on top of all that, just plain ugly. What a grand gateway to the city centre for anyone arriving from the South East.
The bus stops and tram stops do not have enough room for the current passenger demand, let alone the council's expectations of future growth. The lack of space for the bus stops etc, will cause a lot of bike/ped conflict.
Sticking the tram stop in the middle of the gyratory will simply cause frustration and possibly accidents as people have to cross three lanes of traffic to get to their tram.
Three lanes is presumably there to bunch as much traffic together to give drivers the illusion of progress? Let's be honest, the lanes will likely be backed up by buses pulled into bus stops and car drivers behind them then trying to change lanes in their usual chaotic fashion.
A total waste of space and waste of what could be an impressive public plaza (imagine a square with a cathedral, major theatre, cinema, hotels and shopping centre on in any other European city...).
To get to some specific cycle points, and a major concern: I cannot see how I would cycle from Broughton Street to the Bridges, which is my most used route through this junction. If I'm supposed to follow the gyratory system then I can see we're going to have to sweep right over the tramlines, which will lead to falls in the middle of a much busier junction than Lothian Road/Princes Street (where we've seen the tragic consequences of bad/criminal design). THIS NEEDS TO BE FLAGGED AND SORTED.
I'm away this weekend so can't give them a piece of my mind. Hopefully plenty of other folk can wade in for me.
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