“
Residents in a conservation area in an expensive part of Edinburgh want the council to tarmac over their cobbled streets because they say speeding traffic is causing too much noise.
“
Yes well but
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
‘Residents want council to tarmac over cobbled streets because traffic noise’
(19 posts)-
Posted 3 years ago #
-
Can we tarmac over the cobbled streets in Leith for the sake of my poor bum? The route through from the path by the water to the links is so bad I'm afraid it'll damage the bike.
Posted 3 years ago # -
We might actually repair setted streets properly to the original specifications when these are dug up by utility contractors
Prior to the 'restoration'(sic) of Cockburn Street it had some excellent smooth, flat top setts laid in a really tight bond on a stable base. The replacements had uneven coarse top surfaces & are crap to ride over compared to the original
Far too often the 'cod heritage' delivery is loose laid causey stones, with the gaps filled by brushing in dry mix mortar, which then falls out, along with the stones
Posted 3 years ago # -
Comeleybank has a big amount of cobble and has done for centuries. Why not keep the cobbles and remove the traffic?
Posted 3 years ago # -
Look I'm as much a supporter of the War on Cars as anyone, but "old" and "superior" are not synonyms. Cobbles look nice, but even done properly I don't expect they stand up to big heavy vehicles even as well as tarmac. Even in the best case scenario for removing traffic there's still going to be residential access, delivery vehicles, taxis, buses too in many places, and they're only going to get heavier when they go electric. That means frequent repairs, and if you have to do something expensive frequently enough attempts to cut costs are inevitable, and so we get cobbles not done properly which makes them even worse.
I'm a heavy sleeper, but back in the flatsharing student days I lived with folk/had folk round who'd get woken up in the night by cobble noise, even when cars weren't speeding.
By all means pedestrianise the city centre and make it look all picture-postcardy, but outside of that I don't see any specific value in preserving cobbled roads just for the sake of it.
Posted 3 years ago # -
@yodhrin, why now?
Vast swathes of comelybank are cobbled and no one has kicked off?
Just seems odd to me that this is being raised now
Posted 3 years ago # -
"why now?"
WFH; socials in gardens instead of bars, cafes; having a lie-in instead of commuting.
In other words the complainants are actually home for a change and have noticed the setts are a bit noisy when driven on.Probably/possibly.
Posted 3 years ago # -
@yodhrin - no skin in the game now but when I lived in Stockbridge I’d have been inclined to agree with you!
Posted 3 years ago # -
As someone from a cobbleless society I used to find cobbles/setts quaint and picturesque. Now I hate the dangerous, slippy, tooth-loosening things and would dig every one out with my own hands.
I know they can be cut and laid properly so they are smooth but I can't see that kind of work being carried out, and it would be very expensive.
Posted 3 years ago # -
The book in my head set in Lisbon (Estrella Breaks) involves everyone in Lisbon breaking legs, a crutch shop and lot of ex colonial laborers banging rhomboid shaped cobble stones into pavements which in the rain become very slippery,
Posted 3 years ago # -
I'd wager that cobbled streets easily keep speeds down to around 20 mph. I don't think the little round signs with numbers on them do nearly as good a job. I know I am an outlier but I for one love the cobbles, especially in the rain, as on my steel bike I can I imagine myself racing Paris Roubaix in the glorious days of Mercxx.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Increase in SUVs may be limiting the speed reduction and increasing the noise.
Posted 3 years ago # -
@531 lot of love for cobbles on here, this newfangled dislike is a surprise though you do need to stand up on the pedals and glide over them for sure.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Perhaps that's why you're surprised? Us "newfangled" types seem a lot more likely to be riding an upright utility bike on an errand than fantasising about racing on the sort of bike you stand up and glide with.
I'd say there's a reason they stick with tarmac in the Netherlands unless it's a "shared space", where they use flat-laid brick.
Posted 3 years ago # -
They love pave in northern France
Posted 3 years ago # -
They flee from me that sometimes did me seek
With naked foot stalking in my chamber
I have seen them gentle tame and meek
That now are wild and do not remember
That sometime they put themself in danger
To take bread at my hand and now they range
Busily seeking with a continual changeThanked be for time it hath been otherwise
Twenty times better but once in special
In thin array after a pleasant guise
When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall
And she caught me in her arms long and small
There with all sweetly did we kiss
And softly said Dear heart how like you this?It was no dream I lay broad waking
But all is turned through my gentleness
Into a strange fashion of forsaking
And I have leave to go of her goodness
And she also to use newfangledness
But since that I am so kindly served
I would rain know what she hath deservedThomas Wyatt 1535
Posted 3 years ago # -
@Rob, indeed the rise of the urban SUV is part of the arms race against traffic calming measures - mostly speed bumps but also poorly laid setts.
I certainly notice a fair few drivers (of SUVs or ordinary cars) on setted streets trying their best to get above 30mph - and when they do try and push it, it is of course much louder than if they just went with the flow. On the plus side, you can hear them coming from afar so any evasive action can be well planned.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Cobbled streets do my nerves in. On the bike in the rain or cold, I'm convinced I'll skid out.
In the dry I'm convinced my tire will get caught in a gap and I'll be thrown off.
Vehicles sound much louder, so I'm convinced everyone is speeding.They look gorgeous. Maybe we could get paved cycle lanes for 1.5m on each side?
Posted 3 years ago # -
@the canuck - they tried that to some extent on Brighton Place in Portobello. There are 1.5m strips of flat top setts on either side of the carriageway. They're not too bad to cycle on, better than the setts for sure.
Have only tried cycling on them Porty bound. The other side is always covered in parked cars.
Posted 3 years ago #
Reply
You must log in to post.
posts
