Wasn't expecting this - walk/cycleway ON a tram bridge.
Will bypass the ramp and step bridge from Stenhouse to Carrick Knowe and join the new path to Balgreen (not yet open).
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"new path to Balgreen"
I except this will become a 'race the tram from the tram stop' route...
Is it on Strava yet? ;-)
Thats pretty good.
Hope it's got a bit more of a camber on it than the photo suggests. Would hate it to be a really nice surface but one that water (and therefore ice) sits on (like the Chancelot Path).
I must have missed this thread at the time. On another thread (which I can't find) I contradicted kaputnik (I think) and probably generally caused confusion by implying that this new bit of cycle infrastructure didn't exist!
Anyway, very glad to have got that wrong.
Good overhead shot of the new bridge here:
http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/galleries/gallery/75/item/8595/carrick_knowe_tram_route
Hey, that's really very very good!
"Hey, that's really very very good!"
Yep, and I can't think of anything else.
What makes it more surprising is that the existing bridge and the path behind the block of flats isn't too much of a detour....
By contrast, the total mess around EP Station and Cultins Road is just embarrassing - not that anyone involved in 'the tram' knows about shame.
What makes it more surprising is that the existing bridge and the path behind the block of flats isn't too much of a detour....
That shocked me frankly! Given TIE I'd always expected to be routed round the flats.
The path looks pretty good after the bridge too.
Looks like a new crossing is going in at the other end of the new path, across Balgreen Road. Can't tell if it will be shared use yet or what (if anything) it will link up with.
Don't worry given TIE's history, there will be 'kissing gates' every 10m installed soon enough, where ou have to lift the bike over.
Let's wait and see. However it looks pretty good so far.
However it looks pretty good so far.
It looks exactly like the other 3 bridges on this stretch should have - with a built in cycle/footpath.
Again this morning I admired how the supporting embankments for the South Gyle Access / Meadow Place road / Saughton Road North bridges are wide enough to support a wider bridge, but space has only been provided for the tram (for want of a metre or so of a widening).
Le sigh.
"It looks exactly like the other 3 bridges on this stretch should have - with a built in cycle/footpath."
Well yes.
This one avoids a mild detour.
The others would have avoided nasty road crossings with interminably waiting for the lights.
Someone is havin a laff...
The path from the Stenhouse tram bridge to Balgreen is almost open. But not yet.
On Sunday I saw people walking their dogs along the path, and presumed it was now open. Yesterday I had a look at the Stenhouse end and the fencing had been moved to one side—but not removed. I wasn't sure whether I was allowed or not but I followed a jogger over the bridge and along the path towards Balgreen. Well, the path isn't technically open, because they haven't built the other end yet. The site of the former Balgreen Station is still a building site, unsurfaced and unplanted. I walked my bike over the that section and left the site as quickly as possible. Despite this, the people in a contractor van whom I asked about the situation said they didn't mind me being there.
One thing to be aware of:
On the tram bridge at Stenhouse and next to the parapet there is a large (18 inches square, 3 inches high) block of concrete that is part of the bridge itself. If you were to ride close to the edge your front wheel will send you flying. On closer inspection it is probably the base for a lamp post.
The path as currently built is absolutely lovely to ride along though.
I've noticed over the last few weeks that the fencing has sometimes been moved out of place and is sometimes back across the path. I think people are moving it to get past and occasionally contractors are pushing it back. It's a bit pointless really as it was only across the path, you could still walk around it, on the rails.
Just watch out for deep puddles on the stretch which runs next to the golfist park though!! See from the train, where the path dips water collects.
I followed a dog-walker through the pushed-aside fencing at the new bridge on Sunday. Very nice, especially as a potential route which will enable the stupid end of the Broomhouse path to be bypassed, though right-angled turns on stippled tactile paving might be fun. The gravelly bit at the end of the Carrick Knowe path is passable with care (and it's not much worse than it was immediately prior to it being blocked-off) but the Balgreen end was rather more effectively blocked with properly-bolted-together Heras fencing, so I went back as far as the golf course path and lifted/squeezed bike/body over/through the fence onto the former railway path.
So is the bridge open now? I need to get to Haymarket after lunch.
Bridge been open for ages.
Access at Balgreen end has been variable.
Better question then? If I take the bridge can I get of at the other end?
Someone posted a picture of the new crossing of Balgreen Road, just waiting for lights to cross to Baird Road. Don't know about the strip up to the tracks. Anyone been up there?
Don't know about the strip up to the tracks. Anyone been up there?
Yeah it's fine, you can get all the way through. The fencing never went further than across the path and everyone just walked/cycled around it. But it's gone now. There's often workies milling around but they don't seem bothered and I've never had any issues. Just press on through.
Cool, cheers guys.
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