Good work Hart's, I suspected the council had asked for access inside the wire but very surprised they asked for vehicles.
Even if the bridge remained open short term this diversion will be required when the actual work starts.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
Burnshot flyover
(365 posts)-
Posted 7 years ago #
-
"Even if the bridge remained open short term this diversion will be required when the actual work starts."
True, but it's just weird that the bridge has been 'safe' for walking and cycling for the past few months but isn't any longer!
May be a while before they know what to do/how to pay for it.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Posted 7 years ago #
-
From council, via Edinburgh Bike Co-op's facebook page:
"Material fell from the bridge in November 2016 and Council engineers immediately inspected the bridge and removed further loose material. We also removed material from the top of the bridge to reduce its weight. The Council had already appointed a firm of consulting engineers to undertake a detailed inspection of the bridge and this was brought forward and their brief was extended to calculate the load carrying capacity of the bridge. In the interim Council engineers undertook an albeit crude analysis of the bridge and concluded that the bridge should be closed to all traffic. The more sophisticated analysis undertaken by the firm of consultants confirmed the Council’s findings.
It should be noted that the bridge is closed to traffic due to the structure having insufficient strength and it is acknowledged that the occasional cyclist will not have much impact on the bridge. However, it is difficult to ensure that the numbers are limited. The reason cyclists and pedestrians are excluded is due to the open excavations. We did consider creating a path up the centre of the bridge or placing barriers at the excavations but the weight of the barriers did give cause for concern. We cannot place lightweight barriers or tape as these would not be compliant and could potentially be blown over / away.
A Feasibility Study has been undertaken to establish possible solutions for the refurbishment / replacement of the bridge for further development and discussions are underway with a contractor.
A Traffic Diversion Assessment is nearing completion and this also considers cyclists and pedestrians. However, as you elude to this is proving challenging.
£1.5m of funding has been secured to refurbish / replace the bridge (2017/18 Budget). It should be noted that whatever option is pursued that this will entail the demolition of the centre section of the bridge over the A90."
Underlined paragraph is most interesting, the rest has been posted in here already.
Posted 7 years ago # -
"cyclists and pedestrians are excluded is due to the open excavations"
Can't say I noticed any last week...
Posted 7 years ago # -
"Material fell from the bridge in November 2016 and Council engineers immediately inspected the bridge and removed further loose material."
Right, so bridge really is dangerous - underneath.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Deil's advocate - perhaps why the gates aren't actually locked yet?
Posted 7 years ago # -
Open excavations? They are about a foot deep. If that. Health'n safety. Sigh.
Posted 7 years ago # -
The gates were still open on Sunday night but were closed today at 13:00
I must admit that this really, really, really annoys me. I used to ride from west to east over here 3 or 4 times a week and there isn't a sensible alternative. I'm also surprised that such a "dangerous" bridge hasn't required closure of the A90 if there is a real risk from people cycling or walking across it.Posted 7 years ago # -
"They are about a foot deep"
But not across the road.
Either they could covered or just have 'shared use' - no motor traffic, so no real problem.
Posted 7 years ago # -
These excavations are basically the pavements being removed, down to the bridge substrate. I think the kerbs are still in place so no hazard to riders.
Posted 7 years ago # -
If the bridge really is at risk from the weight of any potential barriers or infill (given the amount of material that has been removed) then it must be far too unstable to allow traffic to go underneath it.
What happens if the wind blows and imposes a loading?
Do they really think that a mass of cyclists will appear from nowhere and overload it?
All humbug so far.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@Blueth it all smacks of a Cooncil-kens-best approach. Got to be seen to be doing something, so do this even though it hasn't been thought through to the logical conclusion.
Perhaps someone in the know here could slip the commonsense thoughts from this thread in to an appropriate ear... It's obvious that the additional weight of even a peloton of cyclists is negligible compared to the static weight of the bridge, even heavy cyclists on touring bikes with panniers loaded to the gunwales.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I honestly think it's not helpful to pursue the 'let's just use the bridge' argument. The bridge has been condemned. The priority for the Council is obviously to ensure the A90 is unimpeded as it would be genuinely chaotic if all the A90 traffic had to be diverted. We aren't going to win any admirers by trying to continue using the bridge.
The underpass-sliproad option is by far the most pragmatic, involves no net change in distance for cyclists and pedestrians and is very easily deliverable, without standing on the toes of those trying to fix the bridge, however slow and at times non-existant that works seems to be.
I have asked Kevin Lang for an update, so I'll post here as soon as I know anything.
Posted 7 years ago # -
"I honestly think it's not helpful to pursue the 'let's just use the bridge' argument."
Depends which argument you mean.
Bridge is 'very dangerous' but not so dangerous it needs a speed restriction under it.
Was so dangerous in November that all vehicles were banned from going over it. Fair enough.
But that included pedestrians and cyclists - though no diversion was put in place.
Very recently it was decided that peds and cyclists really had to be stopped because a) they were disobeying the signs, b) there was no pavement so it was dangerous.
This led to gates (which were left unlocked for several days) and CEC saying it had signed a diversion (said by some to be 1 1/2 miles).
(Has that happened?)
Meanwhile because of 'us' (notably Harts C) the idea that 'the army won't allow the underpass to be used' was proved to be a truth too far.
I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect the bridge to remain open for walkers and bike riders until the reality of a safe (two way) route along the sliproad is sorted.
Obviously when the bridge is being demolished/restored it will be unusable - and no-one is suggesting a temporary footbridge.
Posted 7 years ago # -
So having marked the bridge as closed on OpenStreetMap - I've been waiting to see whaa routes the routers now suggest, and was surprised to see that in fact it's suggesting taking the A90. http://cycle.travel/map/journey/39937
Now checking back on my notes, I do seem to agree that according to the signs way back cycling was permitted on this route, and in the OpenStreetMap meeting last night we seemed to agree that this is probably mapped correctly...
To me it seems that the cycle routers will be routing people along this way. (unless we have got the access rights wrong for that part of the A90)
Posted 7 years ago # -
"unless we have got the access rights wrong for that part of the A90"
Depends which part you mean.
Don't think there is any doubt that bikes are allowed from Barnton to Burnshot bridge.
But this confuses things. If bikes are banned on this section perhaps there should be permanent signs??
Posted 7 years ago # -
@chrisfl, if you reverse that route it takes you down the far side of Craigie Farm and onto the Route 1 path a bit further west. A bit of a detour over the hill. Underpass would be so much better, wouldn't it?!
Posted 7 years ago # -
Underpass would be so much better, wouldn't it?!
How do you get there without going the wrong way down the slip road?Posted 7 years ago # -
With the aforementioned segregation blocks we are fantasising about...
Posted 7 years ago # -
This has been going on since 2005!!!!!
"
I've commuted from Dunfermline to Edinburgh for 22 years but it all looking a bit complicated now.
Just last Friday new temporary No Cycling signs have been erected on the A90. I'm assuming this has something to do with the new M9 spur they are starting to build to replace the A8000.
"
https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?t=1247
This CEC response might be worth reading -
https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?p=6432#p6432
So did necessary orders never get made or did someone 'save money' by not replacing temporary signs?
Posted 7 years ago # -
@chdot - thanks. That confirms that the routing is correct at the moment for the "out" journey. Still not much fun for those 400m along a 70mph road.
@livd and @frenchy - it that not the point of trying to get some barriers up. This would provide bi-directional access along the road.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Look back at that photo, looks like the bridge could collapse any time!
Posted 7 years ago # -
"...looks like the bridge could collapse any time!"
So why isn't something more urgent being done about the real problem, which is the carnage that would ensue if it actually were to collapse? How long is the feasibility study going to take?
Traffic below still thundering through at 70mph.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I was exaggerating of course, but...
Posted 7 years ago # -
@LivD - sorry, thought you were meaning that the cycle travel route should take people that way. Fantasise away!
Posted 7 years ago # -
And so was I to some extent, but you'd think that since the danger was identified 6 months ago, that maybe a speed reduction underneath, and some kind structure to prevent bits falling off onto the carriageway, would have been put in place. The risk from the relatively small number of bikes and pedestrians going over must be much smaller.
Posted 7 years ago # -
No-one disputes the questionable logic of the continued un-checked high-speed motor vehicle traffic below. However, the bridge will be getting dug up and re-inforced at some point, so let's focus on the solution that isn't affected by that and let's get it done quickly!
Posted 7 years ago # -
"so let's focus on the solution that isn't affected by that and let's get it done quickly!"
Assume/hope/imagine CEC has it as top priority and that councillors are making sure...
Apart from that, what are you suggesting?
Posted 7 years ago # -
No 'news' on Twitter lately.
"
Edinburgh Bike Coop (@EdinburghBikes)
16/05/2017, 11:22 am
#Edinburgh #cyclists be aware: #Burnshot bridge is on lockdown. Here's our own preferred diversion. @Edinburgh_CC @edinburghhttp:// pic.twitter.com/eB5QcXXsYh
"
Posted 7 years ago #
Reply »
You must log in to post.
posts
