CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Events, rides etc.

Spring cleaning some cycle path

(40 posts)

12

  1. kaputnik
    Moderator

    So my mind was wandering and I had an idea that I thought I would put about for some debate or for people to tell me "don't be silly, get back in your box!".

    We often post here to complain about broken glass or fallen branches or dumped gravel on the cycle path. What say we do something about it one Sunday or something? Get a posse together and load up the bikes and / or trailers with brooms, gloves, stout binbags etc. and hit some cycle path! Could sweep up broken glass, sweep gravel off the path, remove tranportable bits of litter for suitable recycling or disposal. And of course pack cake and cameras and generally be good citizens for a few hours and enjoy it. And also prove that you don't need a fleet of mini-tractors to care for the cycle paths!

    I also had a thought that it would be good to take a big tin of white exteriot paint to mark out any dangerous obstacles on the paths (hidden kerbs, potholes, surfaces cracked by roots) but maybe the cooncil would class that as vandalism?

    Thoughts?

    Posted 13 years ago #

  2. DaveC
    Member

    Good idea? I could bring the family and the boys could have a nice wonder around. I can't go anywhere where a 2 and 4 year old could walk off a bridge parapet, or raised embankment but a cutting would be fine.

    Any suggestions?

    Dave C

    Posted 13 years ago #

  3. wingpig
    Member

    Don't Sustrans organise weekend path-cleanups every now and then, though usually seemingly only on the NEN near Five Ways Junction?

    Up for it, though Sundays would be tricky. A few years back the chicane where the yappy dog lurks just east of Duddingston Road would be periodically repainted white or have a reflective sticker stuck to it by a concerned user. I'll stop and kick branches, lumps and particularly bad glass-deposits off the paths and occasionally took a dustpan-brush with me on weekend-morning circuits of the Innocent and Hawthornvale-Roseburn paths.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  4. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Spokes members have the option upon subscription renewal to mark an interest in helping with path maintenance.

    What we would need (ideally) is a mini fleet of cargo bikes for brooms and shovels and buckets for refuse. :-)

    Someone along the road from me has a great big white line outside their house, presumably to discourage people from parking there while they 'just nip into the shops'. It was very neatly done but I don't know if CEC carried out the work or not. One would hope that "guerilla hazard warning painting" wasn't looked down upon. There are some huge tree root ridges on the tarmac along the Roseburn-Silverknowes path.

    A "SLOW" warning either side of the bridge and blind S-bend on the Roseburn-Crewe Toll path (on the Gugol map here) might be useful.

    The bollards on the path along the back of Allan Park Crescent still don't have any reflective material on them. The chicane gates along the Union Canal only have white-painted edges to them, but ought to have white and red reflective strips as per country road markers.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  5. SRD
    Moderator

    Am sure we could mobilize some sweepers (is underage labour allowed?) and would be happy to bake some cakes too :)

    Posted 13 years ago #

  6. wingpig
    Member

    Not sure what we'd need to write between Roseburn and the bridge over the WoL. "WARNING - BIOLOGICAL RUMBLESTRIP" or something.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  7. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Underage labour encouraged as there's no minimum wage :) It should possibly be a "forgotten" bit of path that doesn't get council treatment, but not so forgotten as the bit up at Millerhill where you'd need a fleet of skips to haul away all the junk. Any paint or markings should of course be persistent but non-toxic etc. It could be as simple as just going for a ride and sweeping up broken glass to actually hauling away larger bits of detritus if we can muster the load-hauling capability. Also doesn't have to be a sunday! Maybe a bank holiday?

    Posted 13 years ago #

  8. Dave
    Member

    Good idea. When I used to commute to Fife I would sometimes go early when it got dispairingly bad and do some DIY pruning. It's mortifyingly time-consuming though - you've not lived until you've spent 90 minutes on your way to work with a folding saw taking a few yards of branch off.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  9. PS
    Member

    Interested, as long as I'm not on dog poo bag detail... ;-)

    Posted 13 years ago #

  10. chdot
    Admin

    "spent 90 minutes on your way to work"

    That's so Big Soc.

    Quite a few people are responsible for trimming low lying bits on CEC's cycle paths - often ad hoc after a storm.

    But 90 mins in one place just shows how poor the 'maintenance regime' is.

    They've talking about improving it for more than 10 years.

    I think that some things have improved because of the Local Area devolution.

    Generally CEC is (or at least was) quite at providing bags and a skip for clean-ups.

    Most involve water, but there have been clean-ups (as above) on bits of the North Edinburgh Path Network.

    There was one last year - http://nepn.wordpress.com/2010/02/13/nepn-clean-up-28-march ("more details" link doesn't go anywhere)>

    Posted 13 years ago #

  11. kaputnik
    Moderator

    yes I'm not sure what we could do with dogpoo apart from tut at it and take photos!

    Posted 13 years ago #

  12. Dave
    Member

    Hmm. To me "Big Society" means letting potholes in the road get worse and worse until people are forced to fix them themselves... it's no victory when ordinary people have to work on cycle paths to make them safe for use. :-\

    That doesn't mean I won't do it, in recognition of the fact that cycling is priority zero for CEC.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  13. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Yes my interpretation of "Big Society" is that if we were as a group of individuals to run - say - a library as an independent trust or charity then the council could be devolved of its powers, responsibility and funding to do so and they would be given to us. They could then take away the latter part, leave us with the first 2 and the big society is complete.

    What the cycle-sweep idea amounts to is just being good citizens and doing something for the benefit of all users that the council is unwilling or unable to do.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  14. ruggtomcat
    Member

    I have been thinking along the lines of keeping a brush with me for glass sweeping, its very regular on certain stretches of path. I think chdot is right, the bits Id really like to clean will need water.

    Marking that treeroot on the NCN would be a good idea.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  15. kaputnik
    Moderator

    the bits Id really like to clean will need water

    oh I thought he meant the bits that have historically been cleaned involved water? Like ponds and rivers sort of thing.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  16. ruggtomcat
    Member

    seems like an odd place to have a cycle path, in a pond.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  17. kaputnik
    Moderator

    you need a pugsley. Them tyres will float you across!

    Posted 13 years ago #

  18. SRD
    Moderator

    Was just sent a thingy about this:

    National Spring Clean, Scotland
    Monday 14th March - Monday 16th May 2011

    Scotland's biggest annual clean up is back! And due to popular demand, the campaign period has been extended from one month to two, making it even easier to take part.

    To find out where litter picks are already taking place in your area, see our map of events. Or you can create an online account and register your own litter pick as part of the national campaign.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  19. DaveC
    Member

    @Ruggtomcat,

    You mean like this?

    Posted 13 years ago #

  20. Dave
    Member

    Yesterday I found a huge barricade on the Roseburn when I started riding back from work - an old shelf unit, long branches (practically trees) and a bunch of intact bushes, as well as a huge amount of glass.

    Did my bit by pulling it apart and using one of the bushes to try and sweep the worst of the glass away.

    Good job the kids don't have much imagination. A few hundred yards up the hill there's a section with no lights. A branch across that would catch one of the blinkie riders without warning - as it was they stuck it in a well lit area, pointless.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  21. wingpig
    Member

    If that's the unlit section from S. Trinity Road to almost the Crewe Toll bridge I Clarenced it at the weekend. Good to know there's a prompt response to things like that...

    Posted 13 years ago #

  22. ruggtomcat
    Member

    ha, yeah, maybe with a shock absorber in the handle?

    Posted 13 years ago #

  23. chdot
    Admin

    "A branch across that would catch..."

    Sadly on the DMains path wire has been used.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  24. cb
    Member

    And fishing line on the D'Mains to Barnton path between the golf courses. I know this becuase I hit it - saw it just in time and stood up to take it in the chest rather than the neck/face.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  25. Dave
    Member

    Don't be an early bird, huh?

    Posted 13 years ago #

  26. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Just saw this on twitter, sustrans advertised NCN spring clean this month - but there's only events for Wales and Yorkshire listed.

    Would anyone fancy a wee pootling cake and coffee ride at some point during that time frame and taking along a couple of brushes etc. for a spot of glass and grit removal?

    Posted 13 years ago #

  27. ruggtomcat
    Member

    Daggnamit, beaten whilst looking for the thread!

    Posted 13 years ago #

  28. DaveC
    Member

    Yep, organise it and they will come (us included)

    Posted 13 years ago #

  29. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Re the dumping on Whitehill Mains Road, at Millerhill Yard, where the path goes down the hill to cut under the A1. Email recieved this morning;

    Thank you for the information re anti-social dumping at Whitehill Mains, this area is on the boundary between two authorities I will have an officer inspect this area and in conjunction with East Lothian will fit it into our work plans.
    Regards
    Xxxxxx.*

    Operations Officer
    Midlothian Council

    Hope they can work it out and agree who is going to cart away all the flytipping - they'll need a big skip!

    * P.S. he didn't sign his email with kisses, I just removed his name...

    Posted 13 years ago #

  30. chdot
    Admin

    "this area is on the boundary between two authorities"

    I suspect this is part of the problem.

    As far as the flytippers are concerned it's just a convenient place at the end of a quiet road. It's coincidental that some of the mess lands in a bit of EL which is cut off by the bypass!

    It's a perfect place for a spy camera though...

    Posted 13 years ago #

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