The City of Edinburgh Council has released plans for Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders covering the remaining temporary COVID schemes across the city. In our area the proposed designs (June 2022) broadly suggest the Longstone and #LanarkRoad schemes may stay in situ. You can see the plans here:
The new crossings at Dovecot Park (part of this scheme and shown on the drawings) and Hailes Gardens (part of the West Edinburgh Link, not shown) are hugely positive.
Of course, there are compromises, which is unsurprising in a temporary scheme that doesn’t address many key issues including:
Further speed reduction measures (e.g. carriageway width reduction)
The temporary nature of the materials used
Significantly improving bus priority measures
Connecting cycle segregation between Inglis Green Road, Slateford (and onwards) and Lanark Road West (for the Juniper Green Primary School catchment) via Dutch roundabouts or Cyclops Junctions.
Overall the drawings show intent to retain the scheme, but adapt it. This is positive. The optic of removing pedestrian and cycling improvements on one of Edinburgh's widest roads would jars with the policies of all governments.
Here's what the scheme means to one local family:
If you want to comment, please contact the following email addresses: trafficorders@edinburgh.gov.uk TRO.Consultations@edinburgh.gov.uk Edinburgh.Consultation@projectcentre.co.uk quoting West ETRO 21-30.
So, if the scheme is to remain, what tweaks could be made?
We’ve tried to be pragmatic and practical about our suggestions. The key ones are:
Celebrate that our suggested crossing at Dovecot Park is part of the scheme!
Building out junctions to improve pedestrian safety
Bigger parking bays where possible – with the twin effects of making parking easier to use and reducing the carriageway width for speed reduction
Activate speed cameras where possible
24/7 bus lanes – simply, when it’s not peak time, the extra capacity for cars isn’t needed!
Minimise the cycle lane segregation gaps at bus stops, with no impact on bus services (there are up to 220m gaps points)
Bring forward the West Edinburgh Link pedestrian/bike crossing at Hailes Gardens
We’ve put much more detailed suggestions below. Please get in touch if you have ideas too, and we can amend ours!
Detailed Suggestions:
Pedestrians:
Several junctions now have painted hatchings to reduce the turning width. These are often ignored by cars risking harm to pedestrians and cyclists. See this video for an example:
However, there is an easy solution - already in place with wands in Longstone!
Longstone bollards reducing vehicle speeds at large junctions
These don’t affect accessibility as they do not block crossing desire lines and parking is illegal here anyway. However it significantly slows traffic by reducing the turn radius into 20 mh streets.
Other possible locations include: Hailes Gardens, Spylaw Park, Spylaw Bank, Redhall Bank Road, Dovecot Grove and Longstone Crescent (both ends). The access road Matthews Foods Supermarket may benefit from this too (check with businesses on minimum access requirements).
Large junctions where paint is not protection for pedestrians
Other pedestrian improvements:
Bring forward the West Edinburgh Link pedestrian/bike crossing at Hailes Gardens and show on these plans.
Reduce crossing time waits e.g. Sainsbury’s in Longstone, Inglis Green/Lanark Rd junction.
Remove railings at Kingsknowe Road South for visibility, consider bollards to reduce junction, subject to access to the Golf Club Captain’s Car Park.
Buses:
Consider extending the westbound bus lane in left filter lane on the approach to Gillespie Crossroads for bus priority only and monitor bus lane use to consider whether uphill cycle lane can be extended.
Make the bus lanes 24/7or 7/7 as part of this scheme – this benefits bus users mostly, but cyclists to a lesser extent. Ironically, cars can only drive in bus lanes when it is not needed (i.e. off peak)
Longer term this is the key area to resolve to improve active and public transport as you can see from this video:
Other improvements should include:
More dropped kerbs at/near bus stops to access traffic splitters/Islands
Minimise the distance between the end of the bus lanes and the filter turns at Inglis Green (all directions) and Gillespie Crossroads (to maximise capacity for buses).
Consider bus lane a enforcement camera on Inglis Green Road
Bus stops – reduce significant gaps in cycle segregation to maximise protection for cyclists. Work with Lothian Buses to establish the minimum possible gap for layby/recessed bus stops. This would have no impact on bus times (buses are significantly more likely to get delayed in traffic at the junctions by cars than having to slow for bus stops):
E.g the following bus stops: 220m at Hailes Grove Bus stop, 110m at Dovecote Grove and 90m at Dovecot Park vs 35m at KIngsknowe Road South
Carriageway:
Work with Safety Cameras Scotland to reactivate the existing speed cameras to discourage speeding. However this does not address the fundamental speeding issue – the road was designed as a fast dual carriageway - reverting to a wider or hatched design would simply increase speeds further.
Reduce the carriageway to the minimum width for a 30mph street and buses/emergency vehicles to reduce overall speed and give more space to parking and bike lanes (particularly in the tightest sections)
Centre lines – in several locations these turn quite severely (e.g. near Kingsknowe Golf Club) – this could be less severe and more gradual
Add wands at Redhall Bank to protect cyclists on approach to traffic island (westbound) where there are no driveways (see below)
Add cycle lane opposite Sainsbury’s on Inglis Green Road and where possible throughout the whole section.
Consider additional bollards on approach to pedestrian crossing on Longstone Road
In several places on Longstone Road the cycle lane ends abruptly, forcing car/cyclist conflicts (e.g. opposite Longstone Motors and at Murrayburn Roundabout)
Parking:
Bigger parking bays: the wide street makes it possible, giving easier passenger and driver access without impact on vehicle traffic. Suggest hatching on passenger side is larger for easier access and wider bays overall
Clearer demarcation of the start of floating parking sections: suggest further reflectors, bigger build-outs and possibly planters or trees – we would maintain the plants/planters!
Many sections are so sporadically used and can even appear to be vacant traffic lanes (e.g. the largest floating bay adjacent to the canal is very often empty). Include further perpendicular bollards part way along largely vacant sections to prevent speeding traffic thinking they are active lanes. You can see the spare space here (both the parking and main traffic lanes):
The larger bays are sufficiently underused that they could house shared use City Club Cars.
Replace the missing wands at Lanark Road nursery and consider placing opposite Spylaw Park in parking
Consider one or more Blue Badge bays on Dovecot Grove for kerbside access to the Park
Expand parking outside the Village Inn, Longstone, if possible (cars are regularly parked on floating bay hatching)
Additional bollards at end of parking on Longstone Road to prevent cycle lane being blocked e.g. Imperial Palace
Proceed with timed bays at/near Nursery businesses to facilitate drop-offs rather than long term resident parking
Parking on Murrayburn Road to be moved further away from bus lane and out of cycle lane
Access to Canal / Water of Leith
The access from Lanark Road to the Water of Leith / Union Canal is very restricted and steep - it's very inaccessible. We would encourage Council officers to consider adding dropped kerbs and whether other longer term options may be considered (we would be happy to meet to consider options)
Kingsknowe Road South:
As per council policy, remove the railings for better visibility at the junction.
Add bollards to reduce the (huge) turning radius and slow down vehicles, but still maintain access to the golf club captain’s car park. Confirm with the minimum acceptable radius for the #20 Bus (First Group)/emergency access to a 20mph street.
Overall our approach is to focus on making #streetsNOTroads and to #improveNOTremove the schemes. We welcome meeting with relevant ward councillors or council officers before the August Transport & Environment Committee.
Here are our previous blogs on the schemes: