CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 16years 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.
Listening to this meeting at the moment. Sounds like the list of projects are just “suggestions” and they will go to communities for discussion.
Also, a rather surreal moment as Cllr Whyte talks about the physical space being needed to maintain social distancing as “about the size of a BMW mini”. Perhaps this is just a small step on his journey to understanding the space inefficiency of cars.
I've been listening to the webcast since the start and my god. Do councillors get special training on making their questions last until the heat death of the universe?
Slightly more on-topic, one of the officers mentioned they expect to submit a multi-million £ bid to the Spaces for People fund. Considering Glasgow is the only other council to have spoken about it, hopefully they'll be successful.
So the process from now is likely to be:
Discussions
Decisions
Funding bid
7-day Temporary TRO advert period
Installation contract letting (assuming that there isn't in-house staff or a framework contract)
Work programme development and material purchasing
Installation
If only we had recent experience of a situation where lightning quick action by the public sector would have produced far better outcomes, which the Council could have learned from.
Sustrans are looking for feedback about the closed streets on their site: https://www.sustrans.org.uk/space-to-move/
Here's a direct but unwieldy link to their survey in case the map isn't working: https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/d731dc60dbae43e1ac4ad067c2edcea9?field:parent_location=The%20High%20Road%20in%20Holyrood%20Park+&field:parent_scheme=Street%20closed%20to%20all%20motor%20vehicles%20but%20open%20for%20walkers%20and%20cyclists
Adam McVey on consultation, in comparison to a usual TRO process: "It will have to be quicker, it will have to be more fleet of foot, more dramatic. These are temporary measures. Some of them may work, some of them may not."
Meanwhile Fergus Ewing looking forward to traffic jams...
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Coronavirus: Scottish Government bracing for surge in staycations and 'jam-packed' roads
"It will have to be quicker,“
Else what?
“it will have to be more fleet of foot,”
ThisIsEdinbirgh
“more dramatic”
Like the obstructions that appeared in the High Street?
“These are temporary measures”
Removed before they are installed at this rate.
“Some of them may work, some of them may not."
That’s actually quite encouraging - HE, at least, is prepared to be bold.
If stuff can be removed ‘because it doesn’t work, perhaps put it in and then consult??
There are enough schemes elsewhere, still in place, that ‘some’ people said wouldn’t work.
How about ‘we are going to try this. If it doesn’t work - for the people it’s mean for (people walking and cycling) - we’ll make it better...
London showing what ambition actually looks like:
https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/car-free-zones-in-london-as-cc-and-ulez-reinstated
“
Edinburgh Council has announced a three-week closure of Clermiston Road North.
The closure is due to ongoing Cityfibre work taking place on Queensferry Road.
“
Were councillors consulted??
“
In Bogotá, the Colombian capital, a 75-mile network of streets usually turned over to bicycles one day a week will now be traffic-free all week, and a further 47 miles of bike lanes are being opened to reduce crowding on public transport and improve air quality.
In the UK, the Scottish government has announced £10m to create pop-up walking and cycling routes, and Manchester has unveiled plans to pedestrianise part of Deansgate in the city centre.
“
My councillor said this
"Information received this afternoon from the Council:
Temporary Traffic Regulation Order:
Works: Traffic Flow - Emergency Vehicles
Location: Clermiston Road North
Date: 18th May 20
PMK are carrying out essential works on Queensferry Road and is operating with one lane in each direction to maintain space for social distancing. Unfortunately this has caused issues with emergency vehicles getting stuck in traffic when the lights at Clermiston Rd are on red. To help reduce this risk, we will be closing Clermiston Rd North, pedestrian crossing will still be operational.
Best,
Cllr Mark Brown
e: mark.a.brown@edinburgh.gov.uk
"
So there was a planned road closure, once it was in place some issues were identified and a fix was found and quickly implemented.
Hope certain councillors take note.
The Highland Council have launched a consultation on their plans, although the website isn't great so it's crashing on mobile for me: https://consult.highland.gov.uk/kse/event/35394/section/
I had a nice(ish) Elephantine pootle into town this afternoon to see what was what. I have not cycled beyond Straiton for two months.
Things I noticed:
If Edinburgh is planning a whacking great load of road closures for physical distancing, I didn't see any. Time is running out very quickly, because the cars are taking over again.
A close pass going up Morningside, and two more on the Seafield Moor Road despite primary really made me feel back at home on the mean streets of Scotland.
* not actually
Traffic pretty much back to normal now on Easter Road, London Road, except for buses.
Really need to see some temporary road closures to stop the rat-running drivers stopping folk from social distancing - e.g. Alva/Maryfield Place in Abbeyhill colonies, used to get round the traffic lights and run along western half of Rossie Place. Dreadful level of traffic there now.
Also need some temp. bike lanes on London Road, pavement very narrow in places and heavy traffic.
Repeated circuits of Colinton and the Braid Hills this afternoon meant that I encountered several families on bikes. I encountered many more cars, and a pre-COVID level of close passes and unwise manoeuvres. I suspect that the families on bikes won't be out again, and that we've missed our chance of truly changing urban transport and active travel for the better.
Three weeks ago I was optimistic. Now I'm not.
Picked up bike from Juni green this am, nice job done by Matt.
Cycled home lot of families toiling in traffic
OTOH earlier entire family and badly behaved dog at thriepmuir all happy tho on my descent I passed several vehicles about to give them gip
Awoke at 6 from bad dream so was on road but 7am very little traffic at all, some bikes
Comiston Rd southbound was like a bike conveyor belt when I returned from my unsociably early ride today. Reckon I met about 30 bikes between Braids & Balcarres St. I reckon the council has closed the wrong road.
Got an insane number of close passes on Wadingburn Rd. Lockdown seems to be an unheard-of concept in Loanhead. Looked like most things were open with traffic to match.
Met a dad with nipper on MTBs at top of Stow-Lauder moor road. Good effort!
CEC ‘Paths for Everyone code’ :facepalm:
See path, think horse
WLC/MLC both looking at bids.
WLC Survey: https://app.esurveycreator.com/s/c7ffc9f?fbclid=IwAR2gfjN6ZtWAyh6kdI30KD_kAlDyMdY4_zPg7aW-7S7xvG4ZH4p-g0JPbT0
MLC:
A council spokesperson said that the council’s Active Travel team are currently putting together a bid to SUSTRANS, the UK walking and cycling charity, for temporary infrastructure projects but as they have not finalised or submitted the bid they did not want to comment further.Midlothian View undertstands that the council are investigating a “quiet way” between Dalkeith and Pathhead via Edgehead, Ford, Whitehill and are working with the Tynewater community council.
What was it Grant Shapps said about acting fast...
“
How did a minority SNP/Labour administration sneak this undemocratic approach through? The Greens who voted with them and, worse still, the Liberal so-called “Democrats” joined them on the transport issue.
“
Er, that sounds like everyone except IW’s party.
So, a majority is no longer democratic?
Baffled.
'sneak'? I mean... really? It was a report brought to committee. Isn't that how just about everything in CEC works?
My working theory was (up until Brexit at any rate) that the Conservative party primarily exists to occupy positions of power so that others cannot.
They don't want to do anything, just prevent others from doing.
We now see a clear divide between the revolutionaries in the Vote Leave faction in London and the provincial yeomanry.
We Conservatives called for any road closures to be decided in public, at committee.
Just like every other major cycling infrastructure project that takes years to progress?
I am currently wondering how cities like Paris, Berlin, Bogotá, Calgary, have all managed to move heaven and earth already and introduce sweeping changes for physical distancing. Yet we seem to be stuck in some sort of cycle of handwringing and pseudo-equitable asking-the-public-for-permission that simply doesn't have the responsiveness that a public health emergency requires.
To put this into perspective, some people in my village actually drive to the shop that is a third of a mile away. Then I read this:
putting together a bid to SUSTRANS, the UK walking and cycling charity, for temporary infrastructure projects
and I stop wondering. The risk is that we merely see a slightly speeded-up version of identifying and signposting all the fiddly routes that a) don't get people from A to B efficiently, and b) don't provide for the sheer physical space required. Perhaps if car exhaust was bright red and deadly poisonous rather than light grey and vaguely-deadly-poisonous we'd be more switched on to the parallels with humans pumping out infected air whilst walking and cycling.
We conservatives have direct support from BP and car manufacturers to promote driving so that the planet can be destroyed
Normal service resumed
@Murun Buchstansangur
Aye, that is another thing, driving has been made so easy, people who cannot drive go out in 4 ton killing machines
Anyone recall seeing anything about how the interventions would be reviewed / evaluated after implementation?
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