CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure

Mapping LTNs

(8 posts)

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  1. boothym
    Member

    Don't know if anyone else has seen this on twitter, but CycleStreets have done an analysis of OpenStreetMap data, looking for patterns which match various modal filters.

    They've also analysed the road network to find possible rat-runs, i.e. streets which connect from one main road to another, and streets which are LTNs.

    https://www.cyclestreets.org/news/2021/07/25/mapping-ltns/

    The map is available as a beta, with a link and password in this post: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-gb/2021-June/027185.html

    Worth having a look to see if there's any modal filters on the ground which haven't been picked up by CycleStreets, or ones which are wrongly shown as filters - you can right-click and give feedback on the map.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  2. Rob
    Member

    Thank you, I was trying to find this after seeing them announce it. A quick look around suggests they're pretty accurate, though a bit limited on types of filter, e.g. it hasn't picked up the ramps at the top of Dublin Street or steps at West Norton Place/Alva Place, though it has identified these as LTNs.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  3. Rob
    Member

    It also has Warriston Road very wrong, due to mistaking the flood defence gate for a filter. Also, the feedback mechanism doesn't work on mobile!

    Posted 3 years ago #
  4. chrisfl
    Member

    Yes, definitely flood defense - https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/3260089916

    It's a more unusual use of the gate flag, might be worth having a think if gate is correct in this context, wonder if an access=yes will help specify that it's normally open.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  5. Rob
    Member

    There must be something else going on in that area as it has Logie Green Road marked as an LTN too. Maybe the SfP bridge closure is still on there?

    Posted 3 years ago #
  6. ejstubbs
    Member

    The LTNs data definitely needs a bit of work IMO. In my neck of Fairmilehead there are four streets marked as LTNs which are open to two-way traffic at both ends - there's no modal filters, no traffic calming, nothing to make it not possible to rat-run through them (which is the definition stated on the map page). I would agree that, because there are parallel streets nearby which are more convenient to use as rat-runs, they don't get used as such particularly heavily, but it's still possible. And surely the point is that, if you close off the more obvious rat-runs, drivers will end up finding their way on to the only marginally less convenient ones.

    The LTNs data doesn't seem to be have any way to identify streets that can be used as rat-runs only in one direction. For example, I'd argue that Midmar Drive/Hermitage Drive/Braid Road is currently still a rat-run, albeit only southbound. There are also streets which can only be used for rat-running at certain times (Biggar Road to Oxgangs Road via Swanston Avenue being an example - though I've never seen the morning peak restriction there actually enforced).

    I wonder whether there would be a case for including 20mph zones in the mapping? Though their value as a rat-runner deterrent probably depends in part on the length of the restriction. It doesn't seem to dissuade a lot of rat-runners from taking the relatively short 20mph diversion which includes our street, rather than facing the ignominy of having to wait at the traffic-light controlled junction at Fairmilehead.

    Despite these quibbles, it looks like a good start.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  7. boothym
    Member

    @Rob I'm guessing steps have been deliberately excluded as a modal filter, as they wouldn't be a through route for cars in the first place? The dead end streets with connecting steps at Abbeyhill Colonies aren't marked as filters either.

    @ejstubbs I think streets are only mapped as rat-runs if they connect main roads, that is motorway/trunk/primary/secondary/tertiary in OSM, which might not pick up every rat-run.
    Can you name one of those streets in Fairmilehead wrongly marked as LTN?

    Posted 3 years ago #
  8. ejstubbs
    Member

    @boothym: The streets are East Caiystane Road, West Caiystane Road, East Caiystane Place and West Camus Road. They run parallel to other streets in the same area, link the same crossing streets, and can all be used to rat-run between Comiston Road and Oxgangs Road.

    Whether they are used that way much at the moment I can't say - the majority of the rat-running traffic I see comes along Caiystane Crescent, up Caiystane Hill and then proceeds either via Caiystane Terrace (usually cutting the corner egregiously) & Caiystane Drive, or Caiystane Avenue and Caiystane View (at which junction an impatient van driver once nearly skittled me off the pavement rather than risk ending up not saving any time at all with his rat-run).

    Basically, the whole area is a warren of through streets: put a filter on one and the rat-runners would just use one of the others. Restrict access to or from either of the main roads and the locals would likely be up in arms. I think it would need some canny filter-based convoluted routing to persuade the rat-runners that it wasn't worth the hassle without creating an amount of inconvenience for the locals that would have them reaching for their flaming torches and pitchforks.

    Posted 3 years ago #

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