CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure

A90 cycleway upgrade, Burnshot

(198 posts)

  1. zesty
    Member

    My preferred and patented method is the Crammond Brig Crossover Technique.

    Hop on the pavement (if there is no pedestrians) just before the ped crossing, hit the button, head down the road. The traffic usually gets stopped just as you get to the Crammond Brig letting you cross into the central reso'.

    And you wonder why motorists get pissed off with cyclists, the above is a prime example.

    You hold up all the traffic without bothering to cross
    at the junction you've pressed the button!
    All the motorist will see is you pressing the button and then moving further down the street, how are they to know that when you press the button you'll cross further down?

    bit stupid if you ask me and bound to wind them up

    Posted 11 years ago #
  2. TractorFactory
    Member

    Slightly yes, but...

    Firstly, the time between hitting the button and who gets stopped at the traffic lights is quite large. If you hit the traffic stop, all the cars that pass you as you hit the traffic lights have been and long gone. You get a fair way down the road and don't actually cross paths with the drivers that do actually get stopped.

    Secondly, I grant drivers with logical reasoning with regard to the crossing. If I stopped at the crossing, got off my bike, waited to cross, crossed, etc. The driver would still have to stop regardless and I would still have to cross regardless. To me, it makes no difference.

    Makes no difference to the time the driver may get held up but it does allow me to cross the dual carriageway in relative safety.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  3. minus six
    Member

    Had a peek at these works, and the trench section remains quite troubling.

    It still goes into a two foot wide bottleneck at one end, and it is far worse now because they appear to be retaining the old crash barrier, which is now down below knee height, due to the raised concrete fill.

    Could that really be it more or less finished?

    Posted 11 years ago #
  4. DaveC
    Member

    Worse, they are not touching the bumpy section to the south as the path runs parallel to the slip road... towards Burnshot junction.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  5. minus six
    Member

    ... and any councillor remotely interested will already have the Spokes headline high quality bike route all the way from Edinburgh to the Forth Bridge burned into their brain as a job well done.

    meanwhile, us everyday commuters are screwed for the next twenty years...

    Posted 11 years ago #
  6. Instography
    Member

    Never mind. It'll be something to lobby the annual summit of politicians and transport officials about.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  7. Instography
    Member

    Although to be fair, the Spokes bulletin says "By March 2014 there should be a high quality bike route all the way from Edinburgh [Roseburn] to the Forth Bridge...". Maybe there's more work planned. He says, more in hope than expectation.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  8. Is that not meanign the coastal route being upgraded?

    Posted 11 years ago #
  9. DaveC
    Member

    No route 1 and route 76 run close (and sometimes together) to each other to the FRB. 76 conts onto twards Stirling but Route 1 goes over the bridge and up through Dunfermline.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  10. No I know that, but the Spokes reference to a quality route from Roseburn to the Bridge, is that in reference to the Sustrans routes? Or is it in reference to the coastal route being upgraded?

    Posted 11 years ago #
  11. DaveC
    Member

    I don't know which route Spokes think is being upgraded but the Burnshot works are on route1

    Posted 11 years ago #
  12. Instography
    Member

    In the context of the bulletin it's giving a big slap on the back to all the Spokes people who've written to councillors and therefore succeeded in getting the work done to the Burnshot section so I assume it's that route that is meant to be the high quality tourist gateway to Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  13. Cool, ta.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  14. chdot
    Admin

    "

    Further upgrades will be completed in 2013 and 2014 including an upgrade of the remaining sections adjacent to the A90, smaller scale improvements at other locations on the route, access point improvements and new signage."

    "

    http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/385/cycling_in_edinburgh/1931/cycle_projects/3

    Posted 11 years ago #
  15. minus six
    Member

    Lets face it, they've done a wee path widening and resurfacing exercise on the easy bit.

    And they've filled in the trench that we all moaned about for the winter oncoming headlights at eye height danger.

    It might turn out to be a reasonable quality path / pavement walking route, and fine if you are an occasional leisure cyclist, but this route is still mostly crap for cycling on daily.

    Taking crumbs from the master's table, and being grateful for it, is a mugs game.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  16. minus six
    Member

    upgrade of the remaining sections adjacent to the A90

    in that case, i'll refrain from casting further judgement, meantime.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  17. Instography
    Member

    Are there no maps or drawings of the work?

    Posted 11 years ago #
  18. Instography
    Member

    The Spokes page gives as much detail as I can find.

    By July 2013 [cost £0.25m] the really bad path section at Burnshot/Barnbougle will be raised and widened.

    By March 2014 [cost £1m] there will be further path widening, access improvements and coordinated signage to create what we are told will be “a high quality route between Roseburn and the Forth Bridge.”

    The balance of funding suggests that there's much more to be done. Hopefully to the narrow bit at the top and the bumpy bit after the trench. If the whole stretch was up to the standard of the resurfaced bit up the hill, it would be a huge improvement.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  19. gkgk
    Member

    I'm looking forward to the path reopening. Must be soon?

    I read (wikipedia) that the old bridge may be closed entirely by 2020, and that the new one doesn't have a bike / pedestrian lane. We might only get 6 years out of the new bike path unless we use the train crossing.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  20. Dave
    Member

    That's OK though. Using the railway stations is only a 2 mile detour, and with two bikes per train and four trains per hour, as many as eight cyclists will be able to commute from Fife following the closure of the existing bridge.

    \o/

    Posted 11 years ago #
  21. Arellcat
    Moderator

    I read (wikipedia) that the old bridge may be closed entirely by 2020…

    That was their fear, back in 2006, when the dehumidification process was in its infancy and before a new bridge crossing had been signed off by Ministers.

    http://www.scotsman.com/news/time_running_out_for_new_bridge_1_689752

    Is there newer evidence from FETA or Transport Scotland that the FRB might still close in that timescale?

    What really bothers me is that cyclists will no doubt still be shoehorned onto the shared paths, which will still be periodically closed without much warning, even though there'll be four almost empty lanes of tarmac to play with. They could make the nearside lanes into proper luxurious cycle lanes and leave the others to buses and taxis who, with no cars to worry about, won't need to overtake each other.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  22. fimm
    Member

    Took as good a look at this as I could from the car yesterday - the "trench" has been filled in and you now cycle between the wall and the crash barrier at the same height as the traffic. Nice wide new tarmac going up the hill.

    Will they have to put rumble strips all over it for the visually impaired?

    Posted 11 years ago #
  23. kaputnik
    Moderator

    could make the nearside lanes into proper luxurious cycle lanes

    They'd want to do something about those expansion joints first, they're pretty thumpy going over it on a car, never mind a bike.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  24. Baldcyclist
    Member

    ....appeared to be OPEN last night, no cones, or barriers.

    This morning a few folk with brushes, but they do appear to be finished, detour on the way home?

    Posted 11 years ago #
  25. DaveC
    Member

    Spoke to Tractor Factory on the way in and he said he thought it might be opening very soon as he saw only a few fence panels and cones and it looked to be nearly completion.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  26. TractorFactory
    Member

    Yeah, I drove past it last night and there was no site machinery and it was all looks in a nice finished state. There was still a 6 footer grate across the path at the north end before you head up the hill. Where the trench has been filled in, there is a higher barrier on the dry stone wall side and you are separated from the cars by the carriageway crash barriers.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  27. minus six
    Member

    you are separated from the cars by the carriageway crash barriers

    ...until you fall over the shin height crash barrier and land on the A90 dual carriageway due to the restrictive two foot wide bottleneck that is entirely inappropriate for a cycleway.

    am i right..? i really hope not.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  28. chdot
    Admin

    "am i right..? i really hope not."

    So do I.

    Hope someone tries route - and gets photos - soon.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  29. JohnS
    Member

    I'll try it on the way home tonight and post an update over the weekend. Even if there is a grating, a quick dismount should get you through. I agree with the slight issue on the height of the raised path relative to the A9. Not only are you riding at only crash barrier height from the road, in the winter you'll be exposed fully to all the car headlights and depending on the weather the spray off the road. Ideally it should have a higher barrier. The detour is actually quite pleasant despite the hills, not the worst cummute into a city.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  30. zesty
    Member

    According to Edin Travel "twatter" account the path is now open

    Posted 11 years ago #

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