CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 14years old!
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EdinburghTravelNews (@edintravel)
15/10/2014 16:37
Marchmont Road - temporary traffic lights have now been removed from Strathearn Road following completion of resurfacing works #edintravel
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Laugh, cry, don't believe?
I didn't take a picture of the lead-in lane yesterday as I assumed it was still to be done.
Went along tonight in the dark. Surface smooth. Chips that might have been red in. As darkness becomes the norm might be less than optimal. Was total dogs breakfast before. Is now just a dog's breakfast?
Its great for cycling through now, but no way can you see the red chips!
3M should invent reflective chips, perhaps.
The black tarmac car lane is new.
The bike lane has been like this for years - apart from the new bit at the front and the bright red strip which was a fairly recent 'utility repair'.
ThisISEdinburgh.
Hope NONE of it came out of the Cycle Budget.
Crossing the junction is now a lovely experience (not just for cyclists).
Of course this a key part of the KB corridor (plan).
That's pretty hillarious. It probably cost more to work around the cycle lane, leaving the potholes in place, than to pave over it all!
The black tarmac on the main road but not the cycle lane/gutter is just an anti-skid surface coating. They didn't fix the horrendous surface first.
Oh well, that's alright then....
Correct, the resurfacing didn't extend more than 10 feet up kilgraston, whereas a much bigger area of marchmont road, beaufort road down past bus stop and the entire central junction were ripped up and relaid.
Don't ask me why though???
"The black tarmac on the main road but not the cycle lane/gutter is just an anti-skid surface coating."
Right.
So it's a bit like 'paint' then - will wear off.
But red 'paint' is too expensive for cycle lanes - even though it's less likely to get worn (unless motor vehicles are in there too!!)...
Or to put it another way - safety for drivers going too fast to stop properly is worth spending money on, but red surfacing to improve cycle safety isn't.
Which mode of transport is CEC pretending it wants to encourage?
"So it's a bit like 'paint' then - will wear off"
Unquestionably - We went past it on thursday and my son asked me what it was.
I explained it to him and he said it sounded stupid because cars shouldn't be going that fast that they need anti skid paint to stop them.
A decent argument from a 9 year old........
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Cllr Hinds has asked me to thank you for contacting her on this matter and to forward this response from the Department to the points you raised.
KILGRASTON ROAD CYCLE LANE
It is the Council’s policy for cycle lanes to use tarmac with red coloured chips embedded in it, but this is only usually applied where the road is being resurfaced. At this location the carriageway was not reconstructed beyond the immediate extent of the junction and therefore there was no opportunity to incorporate red chips into the tarmac. Replacement anti-skid surfacing was applied outside of the junction area as this is undertaken as standard on maintenance schemes for safety reasons.
It is, however, envisaged that the Council will renew the cycle lane as part of the work planned for the Marchmont – King’s Buildings project currently being developed. It is expected that this will be implemented in the 2015/16 financial year.
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This thread was started 7 years ago.
It may have been mentioned elsewhere but the Marchmont Road Zebra crossing has turned into a Pelican crossing. Shame really, since the Zebra worked well most of the time, but for drivers unfamiliar with the road the orange beacons were far too faint and very poorly positioned against busy backgrounds. A couple of signs warning of a crossing ahead would have helped a lot too. Right idea, just very poor implementation.
There was also a big missed opportunity during the recent resurfacing works, that they didn't attempt any changes to design out the endemic double parking on Marchmont Road and full-on pavement parking at the junctions. Bollards to the roads team for not giving two hoots.
This thread was started 7 years ago.
One of the first posts still accessible too and probably the only one still in active use.
@snowy, I think that the Pelican was planned after a fatality. Given the number of near misses I've had as a pedestrian, it is well overdue.
A more cynical UKanian view would suggest that we continue to inconvenience pedestrians because motorists cannot be trusted.
The Marchmont Road crossing I understand was put in as a Zebra as it was felt the beeping of a pelican/puffin was inappropriate for a residential area. Perhaps there were objections at the time? We have one outside us on London Road a few metres away and have never heard it anyway.
The beacons on the Zebra crossing were hooded so that the light wouldn't be visible from residential properties. Again there may have been local objections. This meant the beacons were not particularly visible.
A pedestrian was knocked down and killed a few years back (3ish) when a taxi failed to stop at night. I'm not sure why changing the crossing would change this; a taxi failing to stop for a Zebra crossing at night when there is a pedestrian already on it is I am sure just as likely to go obliviously through the red light of a controlled crossing.
By the way whatever is going in now will not be a Pelican, the statutory authority for new Pelicans was removed about 6 months ago. Any new crossing will be of a more modern type, e.g. a Puffin. Pelicans can continue to be maintained but cannot be replaced like for like and new ones cannot be installed.
"The Marchmont Road crossing I understand was put in as a Zebra as it was felt the beeping of a pelican/puffin was inappropriate for a residential area. Perhaps there were objections at the time?"
Can't remember if there was any discussion about anything other than a Zebra at the time.
Local people campaigned for a crossing because getting across Marchmont Road was considered dangerous - especially for getting to/from the local schools.
David Begg promised them a crossing, much to the displeasure of officials who considered that it wasn't a priority (and not on - or not high up on - the, slow moving, 'crossings list').
Those were the days when councillors could actually make things happen!...
This may be informative (written from drivers' perspective):
https://www.safedrivingforlife.info/blog/whats-difference-between-zebra-puffin-and-pelican-crossings
"the statutory authority for new Pelicans was removed about 6 months ago. Any new crossing will be of a more modern type, e.g. a Puffin"
Understandable, really. Far too many vehicle operators seem to be unaware of the requirement, when the lights are flashing amber at a Pelican crossing, to wait at until the crossing is clear before proceeding.
However, I'm not convinced that Puffins are a vast improvement - if they're the ones I think they are: the ones which seem to have a ridiculously long phase where all traffic - vehicles and pedestrians - has a red light. What seems to happen all too often is that some 'enterprising' pedestrians decide that, since the vehicles can't go, they've got time to 'nip' across...and then have to run for it when the vehicle lights change to green sooner than they expected and a driver who feels that they've already been held up for too long puts their right foot to the floor. I actually think that the extended "all red" phase tempts more poor pedestrian behaviour and more driver impatience than the flashing green man/flashing amber.
Examples that come to mind are the lights at Dundas Street/Heriot Row/Abercromby Place junction, and the crossing on Princes Street opposite Castle Street. The latter has the added excitement of four lanes that a particularly athletic pedestrian can aspire to cross during the all-red phase, enhanced by the fact that in doing so they're throwing themselves in front of buses.
(I apologise to Puffins everywhere if these issues are simply down to rubbish sequencing of some other type of traffic-light controlled crossing, rather than imperfect implementation of crossing occupancy sensing technology.)
That's not a puffin, no.
A puffin is not just the clown of the sea, it's a Pedestrian User Friendly (F) INtelligent crossing.
A puffin has several features. The signals for pedestrians are on the column by the button nearest to you, not on the pole opposite. This means in theory that you are looking in the direction of oncoming traffic as the same time as you are watching for the signal to change.
The puffin is responsive also, if you find one you will notice it has a series of motion detectors. In practice it should know you are there, it should know you are crossing, and it should hold the light on red for you (green man) until you are safely across. If you press the button and then wander off, I believe it should even cancel the request.
The puffin is also responsive to the button push; it's not just timed to intersect with vehicular lights giving you a few seconds at a predetermined phase (and with a button that therefore is only there fore show.) For this reason it should generally give you the green man quicker than an older light design.
A puffin has no flashing amber phase for vehicles.
You can read more here;
(3 weeks ago)
The yellow lines look recently refreshed?
Yes
And redone after someone dug a hole.
All about priorities.
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