Dr Scott Arthur

DrScottThinks

4 comments on SfP Update – Potential Closure of Braid Hills Road/Drive, Edinburgh.

SfP Update – Potential Closure of Braid Hills Road/Drive, Edinburgh.

Following my blog yesterday, the Council has now shared more details of their plans for Braid Hills Drive. A fifth option has also been introduced – “Bi-directional cycle lanes (north side) & road remains open. Similar layout to Option 1 with core section operating as bi-directional route”. Although the scheme is being proposed in an effort to “help pedestrians and cyclists travel and exercise safely while meeting physical distancing requirements“, the precise issue it is trying to address is not clear. Full details and plans below.

Existing Layout
Braid Hills Drive in the South of the city is a two-way single carriageway country road connecting Liberton Brae in the East and Comiston Road in the west.  It is 3.3km long and the vast majority of it is fronted by the open grassy slopes of Braid Hills.  At either end there are short stretches of residential streets.  On the north side, overlooking the city is a 3.2m wide footway.  On the south side there is no footway.  The carriageway is severely cambered making the first 1.0 to 1.5m of either edge inappropriate for cycling.

There are no existing dedicated cycleways on Braid Hills Drive. No public buses use Braid Hills Drive. 

Summary of Proposal
This scheme is part of overall emergency measures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, that re-designates key parts of the road network to help pedestrians and cyclists travel and exercise safely while meeting physical distancing requirements.  It is proposed to improve the environment for cyclists in what is, at present, a car dominated layout. Carriageway space will potentially be reduced wherever possible and segregated cycle ways implemented with options to close sections of Braid Hills Drive / Road. The intended outcome of this is to provide safer spaces for local communities to exercise whilst social distancing as well as providing cycling connections to key local destinations.

Five design options are now suggested:

  1. Braid Hills Road / Drive remain open to vehicular traffic and segregated, unidirectional cycle lanes are provided. The segregated cycle lanes would be provided from the junction of Braid Road / Braid Hills Road to the junction of Liberton Road / Liberton Brae. 
  2. Provision of segregated, uni-directional cycle lanes from the junction of Braid Road / Braid Hills Road to a closure point just east of the junction with Braid Hills Avenue. A closure point will also exist at the junction of Braid Farm Road and Braid Hills Road. From here Braid Hills Road / Drive would remain closed until the junction with Liberton Tower Lane. East of this closure point a segregated, bi-directional cycle lane will be provided on the southern edge of the carriageway until the junction with Alwickhill Road and east of this, segregated, uni-directional cycle lanes will be provided until the junction with Liberton Brae.
  3. A closure point will be situated on Braid Hills Road just east of the junction with Braid Hills Avenue. A closure point will also exist at the junction of Braid Farm Road and Braid Hills Road. From here Braid Hills Road / Drive will remain closed until the junction with Liberton Tower Lane. East of this closure point a segregated, bi-directional cycle lane will be provided on the southern edge of the carriageway until the junction with Alwickhill Road where the scheme will terminate. 
  4. As above closure points will be created at Braid Hills Road east of the junction with Braid Hills Avenue. A closure point will also exist at the junction of Braid Farm Road and Braid Hills Road. From here Braid Hills Road / Drive will remain closed until the junction with Liberton Tower Lane.
  5. The fifth option is to introduce a bi-directional segregated cyclelane adjacent to the north kerbline over the majority of the route. In this option no road closure is necessary, however, entry and exit arrangements at each end are still to be determined.

Subject to approval the detailed design would be considered at the Design Review Group, subject to Stakeholder Notification. 

Plans

braid-hills-opt-1-sh1-road-openDownload
braid-hills-opt-1-sh2-road-openDownload
braid-hills-opt-1-sh3-road-openDownload
braid-hills-opt-2-sh1-close-w-segDownload
braid-hills-opt-2-sh2-close-w-segDownload
braid-hills-opt-3-sh1-close-no-segDownload
braid-hills-opt-3-sh2-close-some-segDownload
braid-hills-opt-4-sh1-close-no-segDownload
braid-hills-opt-4-sh2-close-no-segDownload

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DrScottThinks

Me – Edinburger, Academic, Father, Socialist, Brother, Cyborg, CoS Elder, Runner, Cyclist, Son, Civil Engineer, Trade Unionist, Scottish, British & Fifer!

4 responses to “SfP Update – Potential Closure of Braid Hills Road/Drive, Edinburgh.”

  1. pvb987 Avatar
    pvb987

    Thank you – appreciated.

    “the precise issue it is trying to address is not clear.”

    Spot-on – there is no issue.

    But there would be with Option 5 because the camber is too severe on the north side.

    Paul

    Sent from my iPad

    >

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  2. David Hardie Avatar
    David Hardie

    This is getting MORE RIDICULOUS everyday —-what a complete waste of Tax and rate payers money —these lockdown changes were not necessary and are being used to bulldoze idealogical plans from a few zealots –many of the locals living in the area know that it is ridiculous what they are doing —-wait until the university goes back and people go back to work (which they will have to do soon as the Economy is crippled) and the damage caused by this road planning in this city will come to the fore.
    Having worked in the city in a capacity that is not office bound ,I can assure this City works well with its transport system outwit the over budgeted tram system which was the start of the disaster of the finances of Edinburgh (how the second phase with the double excavation of Leith Walk and the decimation of businesses down there ever got passed), I have found you can travel pretty well over the city and get caught in queues that are what goes on in rush hours but they are not deadly unless there are roadwork repairs going on or you get caught in Morningside or Bruntsfield at the Island bus stops which really are idiotic as that holds everything up– yes the high kerb for access is important to enable passengers with the need to enter on the step with more ease but the High kerb should be back at the pavement line and traffic would flow and pollution would be less.

    The deliberate narrowing and bottle necking of the roads are manna for statisticians to note higher levels of pollutants and then to “claim” Edinburgh needs to radically change it’s transport policy.

    20 mph and cleaner diesel cars and now Hybrids should all be helping whilst the introduction of electric cars may not be as clean and pollution free at source of all the products needed to manufacture so you need to look further afield at the bigger picture with regard to this alleged improvement in cars.

    A similar point was made regarding the 15 year old “green “light bulb which causes 4-5 more pollution into the atmosphere in manufacture.

    Our city is a fine place to live and drive and with the bike lanes already in place for this who are fit enough to cycle long distances and an excellent bus system with the bus lanes in place too,
    it should be more than enough to have a harmonious transport system.

    D Hardie

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  3. R McDonald Avatar
    R McDonald

    This is one of the few roads that is available to cross from east to west. The alternative is directing traffic through (increasingly) built up areas – either Blackford Road or Frogston Road/Fairmilehead.
    There is a pathway that runs along the edge of the golf course as well as a wide pavement on the other side of the road. If we had to settle on one of the options then Option 1 is the only viable and fair option for all. The footfall, even on the best days does not warrant closure to vehicular traffic and any other option is further evidence of wasting tax payers money and strangling this city for residents.

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    1. D Barclay Avatar
      D Barclay

      Totally unnecessary & a complete waste of money which would be far better spent on repairing the road surface and pavement as well as improving the drainage on the south side. This road has been neglected for years but is suddenly of great interest. Closing the road would cut off a vital link and only add to congestion in other areas; it’s a nice idea but impractical. Cycle lanes if you must but no bollards please, try reducing the speed limit instead.

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