The council would like to hear from you about their plans to improve the cycle route to link Marchmont with the university’s King’s Buildings which starts on the other side of the Meadows from our photograph. There are, as you might expect, already a number of cyclists using the route but the council now want to alter and improve it.
The route follows Marchmont Road, Kilgraston Road, Grange Loan/Whitehouse Terrace, Blackford Avenue and West Mains Avenue. The council also plans to impose a 20mph speed limit along most of the route.
The following proposals aim to improve conditions for cyclists and to encourage more people to cycle along this corridor:
• New on-street cycle lanes
• Extended hours for parking and loading restrictions, to reduce the amount of time that cycle lanes may be blocked by parked or loading vehicles
• Northbound (uphill) cycle lane on Kilgraston Road where it is too narrow for cycle lanes in both directions
• A new road layout in the area around Kilgraston Road/Grange Loan/Blackford Avenue and Oswald Road. This will help to reduce existing conflicts between vehicles and cyclists in this area (and improve pedestrian crossing opportunities)
• A trial of early start cycle signals at Blackford Junction is also proposed. This would give cyclists time to move off in advance of
general traffic, and would be the first time this has been used in the city.
Councillor Lesley Hinds, Transport Convener, said: “If you live, work or study in this part of Edinburgh and are interested in how we can improve facilities for cyclists and pedestrians alike, I’d urge you to have your say and complete our consultation.”
The council has an obligation in terms of its pledges to spend a proportion of its transport budget on cycling. In the first year of its term the Capital Coalition spent 5% of its budget on cycling projects and now the percentage has risen to 6% for this year. This means that the council will spend £1.721m on capital projects and £488,000 on revenue projects such as improving maintenance of cycle facilities such as off-road cycle paths. The council has undertaken capital projects such as work to renew North Meadow Walk and improvements along the Haymarket to Forth Bridges route which is part of the National Cycle Network.
The council also opened a new cycle path linking the Shore with Portobello Promenade in 2012 which you can read more about here.
The consultation, which can be found on the council website closes on 26 October 2014. A copy of the document to be considered is reproduced here.
Click to access Marchmont-Cycle-Route-Leaflet.pdf
Plans will also be available to view at Newington Library, 17-21 Fountainhall Road, Edinburgh EH9 2LN, until 19 October inclusive.
The library is open from 10am to 8pm Monday to Wednesday, 10am to 5pm Thursday to Saturday and from 1pm to 5pm on Sundays.
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