Good news for anyone willing to swap cars for pedestrians and dogs, the union canal path is now tarmac beyond Wester Hailes, almost to Heriot Watt with the next stages also being prepped for tarmac. Result.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
canal towpath upgrade
(65 posts)-
Posted 14 years ago #
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Any idea how far the tarmac will go? Ratho?
The canal is a really good route for getting out of Edinburgh, particularly from south Edinburgh. I've used it a few times as far as Ratho, before moving onto the roads. The new stretch of tarmac will really make a difference.
Posted 14 years ago # -
We climb at Ratho, and I found the gate things to be a little impractical, although on at least one there is a well-worn track for cyclists to go around the side..!
If they sorted that out as well as tarmac, it might tempt us out of the car this summer.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Awesome - we use that route a lot as my wife works out at Riccarton
Posted 14 years ago # -
I know people who live near the canal at Ratho Park Golf Clulb and they report the surface has been cleared up tp their house so looks like Ratho will be the end point. I can't see it going beyond there but who knows. The gates are a pain but they stop the cars coming on, as Dave points out there is only really one with a well worn route round it. I think another one beyond the climbing centre is also navigable without stopping. The hole in the wall up to the climbing centre used to be hard to spot but it is obvious now. The climbing centre used to have a Tiso shop, would be my nearest, not sure if it has returned. It has a good cafe too if anyone is interested in cycling out and back it is a nice jaunt in the summer. Fair chance of spotting a kingfisher.
Posted 14 years ago # -
There is still a Tiso at the climbing centre.
Posted 14 years ago # -
I'm a daily user of the path, and can confirm that it's now beautiful smooth tarmac all the way from Wester Hailes to the Gogar Station Road bridge (which is as far as I go). The tarmac today started extending westward out of sight and round the corner, but it's not on my way home so I'll leave it to others to say where it stops.
@Dave I can also confirm that the gate thing by the little overbridge just west of the Scott Russell Aqueduct has now totally vanished (yippee!). The one closer to Wester Hailes has been left open for the past few days. Maybe its days are numbered too...
Posted 14 years ago # -
...and, a day later, I can confirm that the one near Wester Hailes has gone too.
It's great - I can now get the whole way to work (a) on tarmac (b) without having to negotiate pointless chicanes and (c) without getting filthy.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Great, I reckon we'll have to give it a try then!
Posted 14 years ago # -
Developments on the Union Canal towpath continue...
The beautifully smooth tarmac referred to earlier has now been sprayed with bitumen and covered in tiny stone chippings. If your tyres are prone to punctures you might want to avoid it for a week or two until the chippings have migrated to the canal.
The access point from the towpath onto Gogar Station Road has been surfaced, and two mysterious sign posts (without signs) have appeared at the top of it.
Then further down the hill (Streetview image here)there's a new dropped kerb and another mysterious signpost without a sign.
Optimists among us might conclude that "they" are going to make the wide pavement up the hill into a shared cycle path, which would be good.
I'll let you know what happens next...
Posted 14 years ago # -
Looks like a stormy, windy day when they took the Streetview images, there are large ripples on the surface of the canal.
Posted 14 years ago # -
I was on the stone chippings out to Hermiston the other night, lamenting the loss of the tarmac but then I remembered that is how they did the first stretch. The wee stones sink in, get blown into the water etc and quite soon the surface is tickety boo. The very short section in town before the Lochrin Basin that was mud is now tarmac too.
It hasn't gone beyond Heriot Watt tun off yet but will keep looking as Council has moved our work five miles closer to my home so I am going to head five miles in wrong direction and head into town on canal from Ratho, to keep the miles up
Posted 14 years ago # -
Meant to add that the North Edinburgh Cycle Path Route that comes off at Russell Road has been moved a few feet on the corner of the downslope to accommodate tram works. Looks like the tram will head towards Murrayfield through 'repossessed' yards/lots.
Posted 14 years ago # -
is that what is going on there? I did wonder why the turn is that much sharper now... makes sense they are filling in theyard opposite that used to be van hire so I guess they will be adding a bridge soon...
as long as that path stays open, I simply cannot get to work without it nowPosted 14 years ago # -
Well, when they put the spur in down the actual path, it will probably be closed for upwards of a year (and of course, when reinstated we'll have a narrow patch beside a 40mph tram expressway to enjoy) :-(
Posted 14 years ago # -
Spytfyre/Gembo, the current plan for the cycle path leading from Russell Road appears to be a sharp left turn to a well-graded ramp. PDF from CEC City Development.
Easier to find other plans by going to the Planning Applications map search.
Dave, when I visited the Edinburgh Tram Final Design Meeting for the Roseburn corridor (which may yet not happen at all) in June 2008, the points I noted at the time included:
- The anticipated width of the pedestrian/cycle lane alongside the dualled tram line is between 1.95m and 3.0m. This is roughly equivalent to the Union canal path.
- The trams will be driven with "speed appropriate to conditions", and thus may reach 40mph on sections. Separation between the lane and the nearside tram line will usually be by a 45cm tall wooden kick fence. I think this fence ought to be taller. Note that there is proposed an average of 20cm between the kick fence and the tram body - that's the width of my shoulder.
- The Russell Road access will be remodelled with a well-graded straight lane instead of the current switchback. Direct access from Russell Road, over the tram lines, to Balbirnie Place will be stairs, but a bicycle 'ramp' will be provided alongside, similar to the access from the Water of Leith visitor centre up to the canal. There will be a further crossing for bicycles 50 metres or so to the north so cyclists won't have to dismount and climb.
More on-topically, the new tarmac at the Fountainbridge end of the canal is wonderful! And it's not going to get broken up and sunken by buses!
Posted 14 years ago # -
Hmm, gave up waiting on the pdf download. At the moment it still looks like a bridge - the work is high up on the banking but I had discussed (maybe just with Chris whether they might run a ramp). I can't picture how a tram is going to get down the hillside in such a short space to get to the van yard which is definitely where the track continues from. A ramp would work if the road was closed but that wont happen._
Posted 14 years ago # -
The anticipated width of the pedestrian/cycle lane alongside the dualled tram line is between 1.95m and 3.0m. This is roughly equivalent to the Union canal path.
I guess it will work just as well (or as badly) as the canal path does, then. I wonder if we'll see speed bumps and chicane gates a la canal, too (especially as the Roseburn path is on a hill and many people coming down are doing at least 20mph at present).
The one time I rode along the canal path on a similar timescale to a commute, it was so frustrating I had almost gnawed off one leg by the time I gave up at Polwarth! Lovely for a weekend bimble to the pub, but as a transport link, not so much.
The real shame though is it must be really awful for people who're trying to walk along it. I wonder what it will be like for all the early morning dog walkers on the Roseburn with the "bike rush hour" whizzing down the hill into Leith of a morning!
Posted 14 years ago # -
From the latest Spokesworker.
"A Spokes member who regularly walks the towpath did a count after a few scary experiences: she found only 4 of 100 cyclists coming up behind used a bell. Overtaking without warning can be frightening: please remember “On shared paths: slow down, ring a bell, say thanks when passing.”
Posted 14 years ago # -
The problem is though that a lot of people react badly to being "beeped out of the way".
We deliberately have no bells on our bikes (since you can always use your voice). I myself hate it with a passion, would much rather have someone say 'excuse me'.
But the problem is, you will always have someone say "you should have a bell" (even if they would otherwise have complained that you were barging past with your bell ringing). Lose / lose.
Posted 14 years ago # -
In getting from A to B I overwhelmingly choose to cycle rather than walk. And when I am walking, along many of the same paths I might cycle, I forget that I don't have mirrors. I expect people approaching from behind to respect the fact that I'm already on the path, and while I accept that I'm in a multi-use environment, I don't accept that I have to spend half the time looking behind me just to check.
I could once listen for the crunch of blaes under tyre (or now the hum of tyre knobbles on tarmac) and the ping of a bell. Not everyone will think to do that.
But when I cycle, I slow down a lot on the canal path because it's not a race track. I had to inform a fellow cyclist yesterday about that point, as he overtook me and dashed past a pedestrian and then narrowly passed a duck that was sitting and minding its own business on the path. It's breeding season, you berk.
I didn't have a bell on my bike for many years, but fitted one for politeness and because 'tring tring' or 'ping ping' is synonymous with 'bicycle'. I also say or wave thank you as I pass. What does annoy me is when much pinging of bell or saying 'excuse me' results in no reaction at all, and then I find out that all external sounds were being filtered by headphones.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Or if you spend ages behind people pinging and saying excuse me and eventually have to slow to a stop and they haven't noticed you because they were chatting and then they say very snottily "you should have rung your bell" and when you say, politely and smiling "I did, quite a lot, but you were chatting and you didn't hear me, but that's ok" they just get really rude and tell you you should have used your bell, even though you did.
I think the trouble with some people on shared use paths is they think it's everyone else's responsibility to look out for them and not their responsibility to pay attention at all.
Posted 14 years ago # -
It would be interesting to see whether 'zombie pedestrians' would get such a bad rap on the paths, as 'zombie cyclists' do on the roads. Hierarchy of speed in action!
It's surpising really that they made as much of the towpath as has been done, because if you could dream up possibly the least compatible setting for dogs/toddlers and bikes, that's it! Although it's easy to forget when cursing loose dogs that the owners are probably perpetually fearful that a "lycra lout" is going to pulverise their pooch.
Posted 14 years ago # -
I hate the towpath. It's grim.
Posted 14 years ago # -
@Arellcat re the ting tings not heard through headphones:
Air Zound will be heard through any cacophonyI love the canal and cycled it every day out to Shighthill on the way to the Gyle every day for over a year, only 2 incidents: one with a suicidal wee doggie and another with a cyclist speeding opposite direction under a narrow bridge and not ringing their bell
Posted 14 years ago # -
Sometime when I'm not at work, I'll remember to post my little head-on bike path accident (if I haven't already?)
Posted 14 years ago # -
The towpath was very foggy today, I scrounged a new bell from EBC, it was quite a pathetic noise. University of Surrey Environmental Psychologists proved that (well when I say proved that, I mean said that) when coming up behind a pedestrian/alert or in a dwam, the bell ping should be followed by a call in which you declare I am just coming past you on the right/left if you are looking for optimum information/pleasantry. Some people don't know right from left so they cannot be helped.
Last week, after scrounging two bells from The BIke Chain I found to my dismay that I need an oversized bracket on my handlebars. Alas I had already removed the old bell. I went about shouting Ding Ding then sorry, my bell is broken I am having to improvise. This got an unexpected laff from two girls in Muirhouse and again on the canal. Many people on the towpath are hugely appreciative if you follow the University of Surrey Environmental Psychologist patter. Tonight a woman cycled past me on the towpath singing a folk song. Lovely. If you time it wrong (school start / end) not so good but when it is quiet it is really quite nice. No point in totally tanking it. If you have a need for speed get on the road with the rest of us.
Gembo The Bell Scrounger
Posted 14 years ago # -
I always think it's amusing that cyclists (as a stereotype) whine about motorists who think they are "speeding safely", but then take the first opportunity to buzz past people themselves. It can hardly be lost on people that "knowing you won't hit a pedestrian" as you flash six inches from their elbow is exactly what motorists are doing when they "know they won't hit a cyclist" as they desperately squeeze past on the way to the next red light.
It is exactly the same thing (but then, the idea that people on bikes are somehow different to people in cars is, I think, the real fallacy.)
Posted 14 years ago # -
...and, returning to the original topic (for those who care) more minute-by-minute updates on the enhancements to the tow-path out to the west.
The mysterious posts that appeared on the pavement on Gogar Station Road have now been topped with a 'shared-use cycle-path' sign. The spot by Calder Road that had a useless gate that everyone went round now has two sleeping police officers, and space for two more. I expect it will end up with a little chicane like there are along the tow-path in Shandon. I'm sure you're interested in these details, so I'll keep posting them.
I commute along the tow-path every day. Round Shandon and Meggetland (particularly in summer) it's a nightmare of dogs, joggers, toddlers and people plugged into i-Pods: average speed about 5 mph. Out west it's deserted: average speed 15-20 mph. Just like motorists, we need to ride at a speed appropriate to the conditions and not frighten those slower than us. That suits me fine.
I did once have to stop and explain to a large lady who said 'you shouldn't be on here' that it was actually National Cycle Route 75, and that I should. Other than that, it's great.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Greenroofer, with these details you are spoiling us. It might become necessary to zone the towpath - fast sections slow sections? As my office is now 5 miles nearer home I am hopeful the tarmac will reach Ratho for my wrong direction commute. On the stretch in from Ratho there is some spectacularly rolling farmland that will not have changed since 1780. I have never spotted Scott Russell's Solitan Wave that he chased for 7 miles on horseback but have seen the odd kingfisher.
Posted 14 years ago #
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