Issues

This section lists issues - problems on the street network and related matters.

Issues always relate to some geographical location, whether very local or perhaps city-wide.

You can create a new issue using the button on the right.

Listed issues, most recent first:

  • Bike lane protection

    Created by Stephan Matthiesen // 1 thread

    Cars and buses southbound often cut the corner at the traffic lights (road bends to left), driving over the cycle lane.

    The cycle lane leads up to the lights but ends there and restarts some distance along the road.

    It is dangerous because drivers think that cyclists are out of the way in their own lane, even larger vehicles overtake here without realising that they easily move into the bike lane. Attached a photo where that happened to me, on 21 October 2014, the bus overtook and cut me off, I had to slam the brakes in order not to be squashed.

    The bike lane should be clearly separated here, bypassing the traffic lights completely.

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  • Segregate/Protect cycle lane

    Created by Stephan Matthiesen // 0 threads

    Drivers often cut the corner at the Bank of Scotland, driving over the cycle lane. The current layout encourages drivers to overtake without giving people on bicycles the necessary distance. Parking is also a dangerous problem here.

    It would be easy to install plastic highway bollards here along the cycle lane which would encourage drivers not to encroach on the cycle lane.

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  • Toucan crossing

    Created by Stephan Matthiesen // 1 thread

    Very difficult to cross here, coming from Brunstane Burn Walkway to turn right towards Musselburgh.

    The timing of the traffic lights seems to be such that there is almost always traffic from one direction, so one often has to wait for very long here.

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  • Cycle path needed

    Created by Stephan Matthiesen // 0 threads

    Lady Rd needs a segregated cycle path uphills. It's very steep uphills with dense&fast traffic, and it is particularly difficult to turn right.

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  • Discourage through traffic

    Created by Stephan Matthiesen // 0 threads

    Apparently it is not possible to close the road to through-traffic, but it could be significantly discouraged by making it a less convenient ratrun.

    I suggest at the entrance to the carpark of Inch House the road could be changed to create a very tight corner. This would not affect people going to Inch House from either direction, but it would make it less convenient to drive through, and slow down the cars (there is a blind corner behind the house).

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  • Bone-shaker speed bumps

    Created by Stephan Matthiesen // 1 thread

    The road through Inch Park has a lot of very high/short speed bumps which are total bone-shakers for people on bicycles - dunno how many eggs I have broken cycling home from the shopping centre.

    I realise aggressive speed bumps are there to remind drivers of the 10mph speed limit.

    Perhaps they could be changed to have a gap or a shallower ramp in the centre so that they are easier on bicycles. Some actually have pothole repairs which essentially created such a ramp and they are much nicer.

    Presumably this would also be better for users of mobility scooters.

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  • Traffic lights at junction do not change for bikes

    Created by edge // 1 thread

    When approaching this junction from the East on Widney Lane (and possibly other directions as well), the traffic lights do not detect the presence of waiting cycles.

    Since the default priority at this junction is for traffic on the Blossomfield Rd / Marshall Lake Road axis, this means that cycles heading from Widney Lane to Longmore Road have to wait indefinitely to cross the junction.

    In busy times this is not a problem, because a waiting car will trigger the traffic lights to change.

    However, at quiet times this effectively means cycles cannot cross this junction legally at all. I have experimentally waited more than 5 minutes for the lights to change. Unless a car comes to trigger the change, cyclists are stuck.

    This "bike-blindness" built into the road signalling infrastructure is unfortunately not uncommon. As well as being inconvenient for and disrespectful of cyclists, it reinforces the notion that bicycles are second-class road-users - indeed that they do not really belong on the road at all.

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  • New SE Gate Kings Buildings

    Created by Stephan Matthiesen // 0 threads

    It would be great to have a pedestrian/bicycle entrance in the South East corner of Kings Buildings. This would be of much benefit to everybody coming from the south, as you can avoid the steep, busy Mayfield Road.

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  • Cycle path Bypass-Straiton Retail

    Created by Stephan Matthiesen // 0 threads

    The shared footpath under the bypass ends at the bottom of Loanhead Rd and then there is no suitable connection into the Straiton Retail Park area.

    Loanhead Rd is very steep with fast cars. Straiton Rd is fast dual road with unconnected bits of narrow painted cycle lanes. Both are total barriers for other than high-risk extreme sports enthusiasts. No way families could cycle to the shopping centre here.

    The connections into Edinburgh (Burdiehouse Burn, or the new Loanhead-Lasswade path) are actually really good, so it's particularly sad that you're dumped in a car hell on the last few hundred metres.

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  • Bike parking at Summerhall

    Created by Stephan Matthiesen // 0 threads

    Need proper bike parking in front of Summerhall. Bikes chained to the guardrails are a hazard for pedestrians.

    Some should be right at the entrance, some more could be at the front of Summerhall Square (please not tugged away somewhere at the back of Summerhall Square where it would be perfect for thieves).

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  • Contraflow cycle lane

    Created by Stephan Matthiesen // 0 threads

    Contraflow here would make it much easier to get from Pleasance and Geography Dept in Drummond Street to South Bridge and avoid the uphills detour to Hill Place.

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  • Nicolson Sq Gardens

    Created by Stephan Matthiesen // 0 threads

    Make more pedestrian friendly and discourage car use. There has been a fatal collision in 2012 but near hits are common.

    Remove the fence around the garden, or add additional entrances on all four corners, to open it up and enable pedestrians to use the garden to cross the square in East-West direction and diagonally. At the moment it doesn't have an exit in the west, making it a dead end and barrier for people moving between Nicolson St and Potterrow.

    The pavement on the south (from Mosque kitchen to the libanese restaurant) are far too narrow. Double yellow lines regularly ignored, creating blind corners, making it difficult for pedestrians to cross.

    Marshall Street should be narrowed considerably to one lane, as it's really only used for a few bus lines, no need to have two fairly wide lanes here. The southern pavement far too narrow, but it is very busy with pedestrians.

    It is used a lot as ratrun between Nicolson Street and Potterrow.

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  • Charfield Close Junction

    Created by Dawes Jaguar // 0 threads

    This road has been left with a hopelessly outmoded junction geometry, with huge radii and a simply breathtaking width. It's so bad that it's not unknown for oncoming vehicles to pass "continental style", because a perfectly reasonable path turning right into the close will take you way over to the right of anyone making a right turn out of the close (note there are no white lines to provide road positioning guidance). This would in fact make a great cycling link from Cob Lane into the park. There is ample room to create a cycle path and a crossing with a central refuge, and make the junction safer and less bizarre for motorists. Instead the city council has elected to take cyclists on an unlit shared path the same width as a bike, across an informal crossing upon which cyclists are instructed to dismount, and along a footpath.

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  • Cob Lane - Bournville Lane Link

    Created by Dawes Jaguar // 1 thread

    This path is supposed to be a shared use path, part of the Merritts Brook Greenway. Unfortunately it is the same width as a bicycle and completely unlit. It emerges at an informal crossing upon which cyclists are instructed to dismount. Cyclists are then expected to pedal along the pavement. It's completely useless and unnecessary, as there is a better route via Charfield Close.

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