I wish they would stop producing plans for stuff and just actually build something based on the hundreds of 'plans' already in existence.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Scottish Govmt announces £10m for pop up cycle/walking lanes
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Posted 4 years ago #
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I think delivery on the ground is often controversial whereas we can all get behind plans.
Posted 4 years ago # -
To be fair the SfP plans do seem to result in action fairly quickly - the Comiston Road stuff went in within a few weeks for example.
Posted 4 years ago # -
The southbound Comiston Road cycle lane now has also cycle lane defenders instead of wands. Both northbound and southbound they're rather more spaced out than the wands had been but they do seem to be largely effective at keeping the cycle provision segregated. It does seem to get a bit tenuous around some of the bus stops, though: I get the impression that the last CLD before the bus stop has in some locations been placed rather further back from the stop than the wands used to go, leaving quite a large gap with no physical barrier, and no cycle lane markings either.
Overall, though, I think the Comiston Road SfP initiative has turned out to be A Good Thing.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Today while trying to take the kids along the canal and off at Kingsknowe for nursery we had a slow motion 'off' trying to get the tag-along round the corner exiting the towpath. It stayed upright but spilled both of them off the side :(
I think I salvaged the situation with promises of ice cream but they are not happy about either canal or "the muddy place" (water of leith) now.
Fingers crossed something happens on Lanark Road sooner than later.
Posted 4 years ago # -
@Dave - take it that a back wheel raised up and caused it to displace your SLC (self loading cargo)? Hope they are ok though.
Ice cream and nicer weather would help. I've tipped family members off a tandem on the odd occassion. Only Sparkle has avoided that - her box being well bungeed on rear rack. Csrrying a rearward facing cat is better than high viz.Posted 4 years ago # -
I have managed to topple mrs nobrakes twice on the tandem. I believe if it happens again I will either be executed or divorced.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Yes, the U+2 is very fine in most respects, but one weakness is that you have to avoid stones, kerbs, potholes, even speed bumps unless you can hit both wheels at just about the same time. Otherwise with the high centre of gravity it's toppling over time (I've tipped it a few times when riderless, never yet with cargo).
On the other hand, having two wheels makes it infinitely practical for loading and unloading kids without having to hold their weight or worry about the bike tipping, it cuts both ways.
Posted 4 years ago # -
I have now collected the magic number of 32 discarded wands from the Old Dalkeith Road cycle facility.
One standalone section of three wands has been utterly obliterated - both wands and their bases have been removed.
Share the road. Be nice. Be seen. Stay alive.
Posted 4 years ago # -
I wonder why they haven't replaced the wands with orcas there yet. It was one of the first schemes put in place and was lauded for giving a safe route for staff cycling to the Royal Infirmary. The route too long to do cost effectively perhaps?
Posted 4 years ago # -
Good thread!
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Yesterday I had an email from local branch of political party. Top item ‘council doing stuff on cycling without consulting community’. I responded thus:
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https://twitter.com/drcarolinebrown/status/1321738678788624384
Posted 4 years ago # -
@pringlis
The route is principally used by vigorous young health professionals. Doctors, nurses and suchlike. The council may well think they are assertive and fit and not really in need of serious protection during the viral pandemic.
Posted 4 years ago # -
I have now collected the magic number of 32 discarded wands from the Old Dalkeith Road cycle facility.
To be made into an art installation, located outside the City Chambers, called “Edinburgh’s Virtue Signalling”?
Posted 4 years ago # -
I wonder why they haven't replaced the wands with orcas there yet.
I am told that they're planning on doing so, although I have no idea when, or how they prioritised different routes.
Posted 4 years ago # -
@Stickman
It will be a film, but yes. Would you like to help?
Posted 4 years ago # -
“
Councillors on the committee voted to remove the interventions at the beach following a motion put forward by the opposition SNP group.“
Posted 4 years ago # -
Hard to explain how stupid the Beach Boulevard thing is. It's like stupidity has warped space-time.
Posted 4 years ago # -
“
Drive less or face post-lockdown gridlock, UK transport experts warn
Campaigners urge more walking and cycling schemes despite opposition from ‘vocal minority’
...
Rachel Aldred, a professor of transport at Westminster University, who was one of the experts consulted by Cycling UK, said non-car transport methods should be encouraged. “Without such changes, motor traffic will only grow further as and when [restrictions] are relaxed,” she said. “[Doing] nothing means more traffic jams, more road injuries, and more pollution.”
“
Posted 4 years ago # -
I have now experienced the Old Dalkeith Road wandarium. Couldn't use it for leaves citybound but outwards mostly OK. Eight or so replaced, but they were all nearby.
Posted 4 years ago # -
@wingpig
Your eight were just hit by passing vehicles. I only collect those extracted and projected into the undergrowth. There are three behind this steel plate and I will make a special pole to retrieve them.
Posted 4 years ago # -
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Useful document to help respond to the consultation
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https://twitter.com/spokeslothian/status/1322518670950674432
Posted 4 years ago # -
I notice that the parking areas within the SfP scheme on Comiston Road are now delineated with dotted white lines on the side adjacent to the main carriageway, which I think is sensible. The 'floating' car club space on the southbound side now looks a lot more intentional, the new lines clearly indicating that it is one reserved use space within the overall parking area. However, the disabled parking space on the northbound side which caused such a hoo-ha when the scheme was first put in has been completely removed. It's not clear what alternative solution has been provided for the couple concerned.
Posted 4 years ago # -
“
Just a few months after the first low-traffic neighbourhoods were introduced, it’s safe to say that few people think they are a miracle policy any more. In Ealing, which was given more than £600,000 by TfL for active-transport initiatives, opposition has been especially fierce. Planters marking the new road layouts have been defaced and overturned, the bollards have been stolen and the holes left in the road filled in with cement. A march to protest against the LTNs in September had a turnout estimated at 2,500, while more than 10,000 people have signed a petition objecting to the scheme.
Low-traffic neighbourhoods have been similarly contentious in other parts of London. John Locker, a Conservative councillor in Wandsworth, said: “It is clear that the LTNs are not delivering the benefits we want to see. In fact it looks like the combination of changes… are unfortunately having the opposite effect.” The borough scrapped its scheme in September.
Lewisham plans to make significant changes to its LTNs this month. In Hackney, Labour councillor Jon Burke received a death threat over the new measures. “We intend to burn down your house while you are sleeping,” a scrawled note read. “Stop this traffic – open all road now or we will get violence [sic].”
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Posted 4 years ago # -
@pringlis: I wonder why they haven't replaced the wands with orcas there* yet.
There were orcas installed RIE-bound from Cameron Toll as far as here this morning. If they continue at this rate of progress IWRATS won't need to recover the wands accidentally-on-purpose uprooted, and stashed behind the steel wall (which is just a hundred metres or so behind the camera on the RHS).
I was surprised that there aren't already wands here:
to deter people from parking on DYLs in the mandatory cycle lane.
* i.e. on Old Dalkeith Road.
Posted 4 years ago # -
@ejstubbs
That is brutal, man. No fox given.
Posted 4 years ago # -
“
She said: “The removal of our parking has had a huge impact on business. Yes, there are more people working from home and more shopping locally, but figures indicate huge falls in turnover and footfall for a lot of businesses in Morningside.”
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Posted 4 years ago # -
Perhaps instead of issuing press releases saying that there is no way anyone with a car can visit their shops they should try another way to attract custom.
Posted 4 years ago # -
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but figures indicate huge falls in turnover and footfall for a lot of businesses
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Well yes
Fairly universal
Would be interesting to know which shops are doing ok/better.
I was there a couple of weeks ago. There were queues outside Waitrose and charity shops. Presume anyone using Waitrose’s carpark got in via the stairs/lift.
So, shops of Morningside (and elsewhere), have you got what people want? Can/are you using the internet efficiently. Do you offer delivery - could local traders get together and offer a joint service?
Etc.
One reason Morningside Road has so many charity shops is because at various points in the past (‘economic cycles’) shops have been hard to let.
Also in the past MR had a fish shop. It closed as it wasn’t really getting enough customers. It was replaced by Cook which has a LOT more footfall/turnover.
Things change.
Sometimes for the better.
Posted 4 years ago # -
The empty shops in Morningside include a former crown Post Office and two former banks which were effectively rendered obsolete by the switch to online banking and email etc. ScotCleen dryleaners will have been done for by the switch to home working and competition from a nearby national chain. The Feather and Black shop was part of a national chain (Dreams) and likely hit by the general downturn. Nonna's Kitchen shut due to the owners retiring.
I'm not really sure why the funeral parlour shut - but I doubt most of their customers drive to the premises.
Off the top of my head, I can't think what the other premises might be. I think it is safe to say though that changes to parking have very little to do with the number of empty shops. Also, a new shop (Easter Greens - in place of a former charity shop) opened just a few days ago.
EDIT - think another empty unit was a nail bar. There are many nail bars and beauty places in Morningside, many of which have opened in the last few years - probably just market forces and the impact of the downturn.
Posted 4 years ago # -
I was surprised that there aren't already wands here
It's an awkward place to live and only the southern cottage has a garage. Formerly the farm cottages for Kingston Grange, which was originally known as Sunnyside and of course is now the club house for the golf course.
Posted 4 years ago #
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