CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 14years 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.
The A720 is picked up as being particularly bad.
"But there is hope for drivers dreading the commute from hell, Mr Cookson adds.
An extra £1.3bn will be spent on improving Britain's roads, the Chancellor Philip Hammond announced in the Autumn Statement on 23 November."
Mmmm - so the lesson hasn't yet been learnt in this country
"Mmmm - so the lesson hasn't yet been learnt in this country"
Not much chance when Minister is a used car millionaire.
A previous Minister got his wife to build motorways (allegedly).
Of course there is no alternative -
http://www.forth1.com/localnews/traffic-in-edinburgh-will-cost-drivers-28bn-by-2015
A family member just back from Copenhagen has bought herself a bike to get around Edinburgh.
I still muse about my colleague from my time in a big office just beyond the Gogarburn roundabout who lived in Loanhead.
To get to work at nine by public transport he needed to leave the house at 07h20. By car, an hour later.
The public transport journey works out at 7mph. He was quite capable of cycling at twice that speed but was rightly terrified of all the possible commuter routes.
What is to be done?
What is to be done?
"They" occasionally make noises about a circular bus-route for the city. Why nobody has yet joined the dots that ring the city and put on an express coach service that does Ingliston/Riccarton/Straiton/Sherriffhall/Newcraighall Park and Rides I don't know. Commuters from the dormitory towns could walk/drive/cycle/bus to their nearest P&R and take it from there.
Lothian Buses was steered into an organisation named "Transport for Edinburgh" ostensibly because it was aiming to be a bit more than a local bus company with a route network serving Princes Street.
make noises about a circular bus-route for the city
I'm tempted to get a PSV licence and do it myself, but of course I'd just be stuck in car traffic unless....there was.....a....bus lane on the bypass?
It might help if the trains went through from the Borders line to Edinburgh Park (and that they were long enough). They do seem to go on to Kirkcaldy occasionally.
They do seem to go on to Kirkcaldy occasionally.
There's a couple of morning and evening peak services routed through South Gyle.
"It might help if the trains went through from the Borders line to Edinburgh Park"
http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17168&page=5#post-237756
"There's a couple of morning and evening peak services routed through South Gyle. "
I was trying to work out which stations they went through - tried Edinburgh Park and another one. Clearly my railway geography is lacking!
But they certainly still need longer trains,
"There's a couple of morning and evening peak services routed through South Gyle"
On the winter timetable they'll be finishing at SG - not even Ed Gateway!!
I wonder if "they" know where all the traffic on the A720 is going at rush hour.
Lothian Buses was steered into an organisation named "Transport for Edinburgh" ostensibly because it was aiming to be a bit more than a local bus company with a route network serving Princes Street.
Despite the TfE set up, Lothian Buses remains very resistant to change by all accounts...
"Lothian Buses remains very resistant to change by all accounts..."
Are some of the 'old guard' management still there?
The precise traffic "hotspot" identified is as follows:
"A720 westbound Edinburgh Bypass at Dreghorn Barracks"
Here: https://goo.gl/maps/UNtTCdiC1sz
Also:
"Eastbound junction of the A8 Glasgow and Edinburgh Road with the M8"
Which is billed as Glasgow, maybe east of Baillieston? Soon to be motorway standard from Eurocentral to Newhouse (i.e.. three lanes each way plus hard shoulder), with Transport Scotland lavishing goodness knows how many millions of our money on it.
"
The Edinburgh City Bypass, designated as A720, is one of the most important trunk roads in Scotland
"
It says here -
Of course if we're talking about moving people (as opposed to cars) round and into Edinburgh, the whole business of the South Sub ought to come into it.
See other thread -
http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17168&page=5#post-237753
Much as I hate the idea of more roads and car parks - especially in the 'Green Belt' -
I think there should be a serious look at an extension of the A68 where it meets the bypass into a BIG new car park at Shawfair Station (on the very non-green site of Monktonhall Colliery) and a much more frequent train service, maybe half to Waverley and half to/through Ed Park and/or Ed Gateway.
Wouldn't even (initially) need new stations on the South Sub.
Looking at the 4 "bottlenecks" identified on the bypass;
4 Edinburgh A720 W (Edinburgh bypass) at Dreghorn Barracks 86 5.4 101
5 Edinburgh A720 E (Edinburgh bypass) between A702 and A701 80 2.23 216
9 Edinburgh A720 W (Edinburgh bypass) between A702 and A701 76 4.77 76
10 Edinburgh A720 W (Edinburgh bypass) at Dreghorn junction 51 4.54 114
It's basically the section between Dreghorn and Fairmilehead junctions.
There's no inference here where the "bottleneck" might lie; is it capacity of the bypass itself, of the junction or of the local roads that connect to/from the junctions.
"There's no inference here where the "bottleneck" might lie; is it capacity of the bypass itself, of the junction or of the local roads that connect to/from the junctions."
Is the ANPR on the bypass just for fighting crime or could it be used for volume/route data, even if it's only seeing at which junctions people are entering and exiting the bypass?
Whilst I don't remotely like Glasgow's city centre motorways they do have the advantage of having electronic variable speed limit signs for trying to slow the rate at which people approach bunged-up junctions and increasing-capacity-through-smaller-inter-vehicle-gaps, whereas the A720 is VROOM MOTORWAY.
From my experience of using the bypass at busy times the issue seems to be sheer number of cars on the bypass itself.
I don't think I've ever seen issues with cars leaving the bypass queuing back onto the A720 itself.
Cars joining westbound at Lothianburn often back right back up onto the A702.
Once or twice I've had reason to join westbound from Sheriffhall which is a pretty miserable experience at rush hour.
"From my experience of using the bypass at busy times the issue seems to be sheer number of cars on the bypass itself."
I'd agree - just too many vehicles in relation to the capacity of the road.
Build More Roads! It's obvious innit?
"It's obvious innit?"
Yes.
To those with a vested interest or lack of imagination.
Or, sadly, politicians who think that voters only care about driving...
You'd think that a Government elected on a smarter, cleaner, greener, fairer manifesto would be willing to try to offer something different to the way things have always been done - and look like will continue to be done.
The build-an-M720 petition seems to have had lots of new signatures since this news story.
https://www.change.org/p/scottish-government-make-the-edinburgh-city-bypass-fit-for-the-21st-century
I think it's being driven by someone from Penicuik. It does additionally suggest looking at opening the South Sub and re-opening the Penicuik railway.
For some reason I found reading the supporter comments quite addictive.
There were those who were perhaps signing on behalf of others:
"My wife suffers this road daily"
Although this person was perhaps more upset about his girlfriend's moaning:
"My girlfriend will be moving in with me soon and she works at the Royal Infirmary and uses the Bypass but always complains about traffic"
This was a bit unfair though...
"This road is not for purpose and barely fit to a horse and cart, someone needs to remind the Scottish Government that we have moved on from those times."
...there are signs specifically banning horses with carts on the entrance slips.
"there are signs specifically banning horses with carts on the entrance slips"
Perhaps they should be removed.
In fact, perhaps bypass should be bikes (trailers optional) and horses (carts optional) only.
Of course bikes would barely use it as it's not a 'direct route'.
Are there any studies on drivers' 'need' to keep moving - however much further/longer a journey takes?
There are people on here who use the NEPN even though the distance is greater. For most it's more pleasant, for some it's also quicker than the stop start of traffic lighted routes.
'This is an "avoid at all costs" road for 4 hours every day which is ridiculous.'
Clearly not for everyone.
Years of ignorance, dithering and inaction by the trunk route's operator, the Scottish Government, has resulted in a major artery that operates at 140% capacity during morning and rush hour periods.
I....ummm....OK.
"The road was built to carry traffic in the 70's, it can't handle the volume today and has been in need of an upgrade for years, it's the main road into many parts of the city and it needs upgrading fast!"
This comes to mind:
https://twitter.com/SomosRecycling/status/801506899841744896
Clearly not for everyone.
Indeed - like one of my favourite Futurama quotes: "No one in New York drove; there was too much traffic."
From petition -
"
Edinburgh's City Bypass has a problem. Left largely unaltered since its construction in the 1980's, the A720 has failed to adapt to the growing population and as such isn't fit for modern day use. Years of ignorance, dithering and inaction by the trunk route's operator, the Scottish Government, has resulted in a major artery that operates at 140% capacity during morning and rush hour periods.
"
Perhaps.
Of course the name should be a giveaway.
The original notion was that this was a road for traffic originating outside Edinburgh (notionally somewhere like Newcastle) heading for somewhere like Fife or Glasgow.
What is needed is some serious analysis of current usage. Clearly there is traffic from outside Edinburgh (Fife, Lothians & Borders) using parts of the bypass to get into Edinburgh.
So the problem is too much traffic.
The solution is not - in financial, environmental or interest of Edinburgh residents sense - more roads.
'Most people' (perhaps) realise this, but not Governments lobbied by vested interests (inc Transport Scotland) and motoring voters.
When Sheriffhall is re-imagined perhaps it should just be a flyover with NO connections!
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