Haven't noticed this being discussed before in the forum, at leat not recently,but I'm sure we've all got our least favourite road surfaces in and around the city.
Ones that spring to mind for me are:
1. Harlaw Road, coming up from (or going down to) Balerno. if you're on any bike other than a well-suspended mountain bike with very squashy tyres you risk losing all your fillings and anything else.
2. Mcleod Street along side Tynecastle High
3. Great Junction Street - North side greenway section after Tesco Metro
Most of the bike path surfaces are really good but it's the interconnecting roads that are quite the opposite.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Worst road surfaces for cycling
(96 posts)-
Posted 8 years ago #
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The road parallel to the main road through the meadows (by Café Victor Hugo) is pretty poor all round.
Posted 8 years ago # -
King's Haugh is a good example of rattlesomeness caused by the ablation of the top layer where there's no smooth continuous line available. Restalrig Road is a patchwork of different ages of surface, but you can at least mitigate it by frequent changes of direction. The Shore or Howe St are the sort of setts which make you regret choosing them as a route. Holyrood Park Road (park-bound) has a slit trench along it which doesn't track the shape of the road and which could catch a wheel at the wrong angle. The western bit of Ocean Drive (parallel to North Leith Sands, beside the Gate ferryport thing) has a nice collection of potholes and mishmash and is susceptible to large puddles.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Whitehouse Loan is currently, finally, being fixed.
The southbound carriageway of Newington Road, near the junction with West Preston St. is awful - although some roadworks are there just now, so it might get better soon. Or it might get worse.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Anywhere where the cycle route crossed the tram tracks?
Posted 8 years ago # -
Warriston farm road near heriot watt has a lot of bumps
Posted 8 years ago # -
Lawnmarket to the top of Johnston Terrace has some of the worst subsiding cobble setts I've seen. Not quite as bad or as long as the Trouée d'Arenberg but it adds some interest to the daily commute.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Craighouse Avenue. That'll be three and a half decades since it was upgraded.
I wish Ashley Court would keep their back gate open as it would be handy route for avoiding the worst of the Craighouse Road hill - despite the potholes.
You can of course use the footpath round the side although it is very steep.Also Capelaw Road and Allermuir Road for silly levels of rutted-ness.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Lauriston St - the entire length (just one block) is a mass of potholes and patches.
Arboretum Avenue - the potholes there seem to have been patched not only clumsily but with some sort of surface that has no give - bumping over it is much harsher than normal patches. Plus they keep wearing through and getting patched badly again.Posted 8 years ago # -
Gilmore Place and Gray's Loan/Myreside Road aren't great.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Most streets with setts/cobbles.
The A8 path east of Ingliston: tree roots have broken the surface everywhere, big potholes.
Leith Walk between Pilrig and Picardy Place is truly dreadful. Bumpy, cratered, poorly patched, you name it.
McDonald Road westbound: the cycle lane is bumpy due to the red coating coning away*. Less noticeable eastbound as slightly uphill and therefore speed tends to be less, also seems in better nick.
* - I realise this can also be said of various other red coated cycle lanes from the same era.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Gillespie Road, particularly uphill towards Gillespie Crossroads. Each turn of a wheel seems to take you on to a different surface, each more rutted than the last. Horrible.
Posted 8 years ago # -
The first time I cycled on Academy Street my brain hurt for the rest of the morning. Not like a headache, like my brain had rattled in my skull too much.
Posted 8 years ago # -
At least something could be done about Craighouse Avenue if the residents could agree. But some of them appear to be waiting for deus ex machina in the form of the nursing home fixing it. Hence Ashley Court keeping its back gate firmly closed - 'nothing to do with us, guv'.
Looked at a house there in 2008, amazing it's still going on - very glad we took it no further.
Posted 8 years ago # -
On my route - Arboretum Avenue, the road is so bad you have to cycle middle of the road in bits. Lots of idiots in cars that can't grasp the fact that if the road is bad for them it is dangerous for me.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Gilmore Place is not just not great, it's also at its worst when you run the biggest risk of coming into conflict with buses and MGIF drivers aiming for the left-turn lane who push you onto the poor surface to the left while you need to go right.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Craighouse road hill can be bypassed using the park. It's a wide path and I've only ever encountered one numpty car driver looking very lost (and facing a long reverse...)
Posted 8 years ago # -
Confirms what we all know that Edinburgh's roads are among the worst in the developed world - but we do have a lovely smooth tram-line!
Posted 8 years ago # -
+1 to Mcleod Street and Harlaw Road.
One other I really hate is up by "the cow farm" on the Lang Whang - really really bumpy and unpleasant on a bike, not very noticeable in a car. At least on the way back down you can carry some speed and it isn't so bad. (I think this is outside Edinburgh City Council, though!)
Posted 8 years ago # -
Leamington Tce & Viewforth
Posted 8 years ago # -
Scotland St - every night - horrific. I think the chasms between the cobbles are bigger than the cobbles.
Posted 8 years ago # -
The junction of Lasswade Road and the B701, its like riding a rollercoaster
Posted 8 years ago # -
The junction of Lasswade Road and the B701, its like riding a rollercoaster
The northbound cycle lane just before that junction is awful. Some tar has been added in the last couple of weeks, but they've missed the worst bits of it. Hopefully they're coming back soon.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Canonmills crossroads is quite nasty, especially if you're turning right off Broughton Road. It doesn't help that you're usually gaining speed off the downhill (the same effect on vehicles is probably the reason most of the damage is to the downhill side of the road...)
Posted 8 years ago # -
I agree with Wingpig re. the Shore setts Unfortunately, living there I can't avoid riding over them twice a day.
Sections of the setts have sunk, making the experience even more fun than it used to be. (On the plus side,since it went one-way for anything other than buses & bikes, I no longer have a queue of cars behind me, revving away on wet evenings as I try to brake and turn off the road without hitting the deck).
Posted 8 years ago # -
Dock Place, heading towards Victoria Quay, where the old tram rails are. Huge subsidence in the setts.
Posted 8 years ago # -
On the plus side, some good repair patches on A70 at Juni green and on the now 20mph bend from curriehill station to Currie, rest of road been twenty for a while.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Part of Canonmills crossroads was patched over the weekend.
Unfortunately, they only patched the uphill side, so the downhill side is as dodgy as ever, especially when turning from Broughton Road.
Posted 8 years ago # -
The kirkgate in currie to flotterstone cycle route that goes over the pentlands is full of rocks and things
Posted 8 years ago # -
Ed1- I don't think the highways authority are obliged to do anything about that one!very funny anyway.
Posted 8 years ago #
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