I far prefer having to "swerve around pedestrians" than deal with motor vehicles.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
“Plans to make Edinburgh city centre ‘largely traffic free’ “
(191 posts)-
Posted 5 years ago #
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Wow. Radical. For Edinburgh.
Can't see this plan getting past Lothian Buses, certainly not the North and South Bridges. OTOH George IV Bridge and Cowgate make perfect sense.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Regrettably, despite the sketchy use of the phrase 'earmarked', as far as I know this is only a proposal by campaign groups at the moment and not any kind of formal council plan.
Posted 5 years ago # -
It also implies only for August. Which would be a shame for a lot of it.
Not a very clear article..
Could be a case of releasing something no one likes (Candlemaker Row and Grassmarket left open to traffic) to then release something more palatable for everyone (not shutting the bridges to Buses, but pedestrianising more minor streets )
Posted 5 years ago # -
Sustrans Scotland @SustransScot
.@Edinburgh_CC have launched their consultation on how the city centre can be made better for those living, working and visiting it. Contribute at:
(Link doesn't work BTW, presume not "launched" just yet then?)
Posted 5 years ago # -
Link working now - consultation includes City Centre Transformation, City Mobility Plan and LEZs. It's a big one.
EDIT: When I said the link worked, I meant, of course that it doesn't work. But these ones do: https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/connecting-our-city-transforming-our-places/
Posted 5 years ago # -
Is it just me that doesn't see anything wrong with this?
Why would you wait til the end of the consultation to find someone to analyse it?
I organised my electrician before the part was delivered this week, it seems like the same principle..
Posted 5 years ago # -
“Why would you wait til the end of the consultation to find someone to analyse it?”
Except that it’s clearly more than just analysing what is said during the consultation stage.
“
Transport convener Lesley Macinnes said: “This administration is spearheading a truly game-changing rethink of how the heart of Edinburgh looks, feels and functions, putting people right at the centre of everything we’re trying to achieve. We’re delighted to have engaged Jacobs’ excellent expertise and resources to help us deliver this major transformational project.”
“
Seems to be standard CEC.
Have a good idea (‘we’ might like it, but many people won’t).
Consult (again) without much in the way of actual proposals.
In parallel employ a firm that will be there to work up the results of the consultation and ‘deliver’.
Looks slightly inept and/or relying on the consultation going the way politicians want.
Maybe the company should have been employed to run the consultation first?
Suppose the consultation is such that a majority of consultees say ‘it’s fine, don’t mess’, presumably Council will ignore as they have already contracted people to deliver??
Posted 5 years ago # -
CEC was scared and scarred by this for years -
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/2739206/How-drivers-reclaimed-the-streets.html
Basically the ENews jumped on grumbles and got the scheme abandoned after it had been put in.
Has CEC forgotten or learned?
Or have things really moved on enough so that Edinburgh is now READY for “a truly game-changing rethink of how the heart of Edinburgh looks, feels and functions”?
Posted 5 years ago # -
@chdot, that was a depressing read, but sadly unsurprising. I noted this snippet:
"At one bus-gate in the eastern New Town the police watched helplessly as 500 cars passed a No Entry sign in just one hour. "
Nowadays of course you could install an ANPR camera and all 500 drivers would be staring at a penalty charge notice for each infraction.
So something similar to that failed scheme could work, with the right approach.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I see Nick Cook has adopted a Trumpian approach to facts, stating: "If the council administration has concrete plans to ban traffic from the city – as some suspect – these should be shared without delay."
Go on Nick, tell us who these "some" are and why they suspect this?
Posted 5 years ago # -
Don't get my hopes up like that Nick!
Posted 5 years ago # -
Posted 5 years ago #
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Sceptical view here
Will it be the start of a transport revolution which turns Edinburgh into a city of cyclists? Who knows, but they are at least a visible sign that Transport for Edinburgh is giving things a go which don’t need to cost taxpayers millions.
There is agreement across the political spectrum that traffic and infrastructure problems can’t be brushed aside and although it wasn’t apparent from this week’s coverage, the Conservative Group has actually been campaigning for just such a sponsored bike scheme for the past 13 years.
No-one disagrees transport solutions are needed if Edinburgh’s growth is to be sustained and as the bikes were being rolled out, so too was the council’s “Connecting Our City, Transforming Our Places” survey of public attitudes towards transport across the city.
The two-month exercise is ostensibly to measure public appetite for change, but most of the questions are so loaded the aim appears to be an endorsement for the SNP-Labour administration’s most radical suggestions, particularly the banning of private motorists from the city centre, possibly with the reluctant exception of the 19,000 people who live there.
You are asked to agree or disagree with a series of statements, such as: “The amount of general traffic in the city centre and town centres should be reduced to improve the experience for people who live, work and visit.” As a statement of predictable behaviour, it’s difficult to quibble with the claim that “By creating a safe, attractive, accessible and connected network of walking routes and cycling routes, more people would choose to walk or cycle for short journeys rather than use a car”.
But that’s a world away from asking people if they agree that “The council should spend a large proportion of its roads budget on new cycleways at a time when most carriageways have deteriorated to such an extent that vehicles are being damaged”.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Cllrs Macinnes and Doran have a piece in the EEN about lessons that can be learned from London, particularly Waltham Forest:
Posted 5 years ago # -
Heading to Dundee this morning. Keynote in Dundee with @sustransscotland & then meetings with City of Edinburgh. I love how the new elevated walkway at @CPHAirports looks like it is part of original #design & not a haphazard add-on to fix the original faulty #architecture
Posted 5 years ago # -
MC-A has a strong strapline on the Twitter. Putting the FU back into urban design since 2007. He says the actual words but one of them not allowed on here.
Posted 5 years ago # -
An update on this is to be published later today as part of the Transport Committee papers.
A large segment of Edinburgh is about to lose their sh*t. You’ll be able to hear the screaming around the world.
Can’t wait.
Posted 5 years ago # -
A
largeloud segment of Edinburgh.FTFY
Posted 5 years ago # -
'88% of people support changes to mobility and place quality in the city, with 51% in support of radical change.'
Posted 5 years ago # -
Saw a Facebook post about the once a month street closures earlier. FURIOUS SCREAMING from people I suspect don't even live in the city centre.
Posted 5 years ago # -
"people I suspect don't even live in the city centre"
They'll be the urban or rural Edinburgh single occupant car users I expect. Without wishing to stereotype, same people more likely to vote Conservative, think the trams are a waste of money, never use a bus, etc.
Posted 5 years ago # -
"Edinburgh Council has ignored this problem for many years. It could, for example, have built an elevated freeway extending the road that meets the lower end of Lothian Road, then over the railway below the Castle and out to the east of the city, and turned the east part of this road out to Sighthill into a proper freeway/motorway."
Posted 4 years ago # -
The traffic congestion into central Edinburgh from the south, which bungs up main roads in Morningside and Newington, could have been alleviated by building an overpass/elevated roadway from the City Bypass, over the Braids golf courses and down into the city centre, skirting the Meadows. Of course this would be difficult, but quite achievable.
Satire. Has to be satire.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Poe’s Law.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Pretty sure I've suggested this already on here. I remember looking at the gradients.
Posted 4 years ago # -
The council needs to follow up these innovative (and, of course, world class) ideas immediately!
We only need to look at just how incredibly successful these elevated freeways have been in Cowcaddens, Glasgow!
(Oh. That's if you can find any of Cowcaddens left.)
Posted 4 years ago # -
Actually, Whitehouse Loan is practically expressway width for most of its length already. I'm sure there's absolutely nothing of importance anywhere along its length should any further demolition happen to be necessary, and then you are practically at Tollcross and its important interchange with the inner ring road...
We could make the traffic flow so much better all around the city if only there weren't all these annoying old buildings inconveniently in the way!
Posted 4 years ago #
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