🚲 edi.bike | issue 19 | 18th Dec ‘23
don’t make me jingle my bell
Welcome to your weekly roundup of cycle travel news, events and infrastructure progress in Scotland’s capital city. Braving the winds and mountains of mulch? More power to you!
📰 News this Week
🌆 Locally
🛍️ Previously mentioned pre-opening, new bike shop Society Cycles opened on Monday down Morningside way, opposite Cafe Nero - check them out!
📆 Day eighteen of Infrasisters’ excellent ‘Advent calendar of Crap Infrastructure’ – being updated every day with a new reason to side-eye your local representatives;
⏯️ Across the city, chicanes (staggered access barrier fences) are being replaced with bollards to make entry to pathways easier for folks walking, wheeling and cycling - Spokes have some details 🐦 about how to report any you come across to have them replaced;
From last issue: Watson’s cycling / school bike bus article; and a recent Talk from Cycle Law Scotland.
🫂 Help Needed
🗨️ Spokes are in need of new members for their Planning and Resources groups;
🤝 SW20 are now a Co-op Local Community Fund Cause - support them via this page;
🆘 Support Bikes for Refugees with an SMS donation 🐦or on EasyDonate;;
🎭 Edinburgh Festival of Cycling are looking for new volunteers and additional directors
🛠Edinburgh Tool Library still seeking donations of unused bike tools – get in touch.
🌈 Infrastructure Progress & Consultations
Ongoing…
🚗 Closes tomorrow - the ongoing public consultation on the future of Holyrood Pk is still available to respond to until 19th December - read Car Free Holyrood’s blog post and Spokes’ response to the consultation if you need inspiration!
⛵ Musselburgh Active Toun consultation currently ongoing - shared with us by Andrew Keba, who got back in touch to update on the deadline (January 15th);
🏫 The Council “have received funding from Sustrans to implement a School Zone at Dalry Primary School that will help to make the area outside the school safer and more enjoyable for pupils, parents, carers and residents”. The consultation is open and closes on the 15th January too;
📜 Open until 8th February, the City of Edinburgh Council are consulting on the second phase of the George Street & First New Town project, covering North Castle St, Frederick St and Hanover St (North) - you can review and respond to the consultation, but it’s also worth looking over some of the criticisms that campaign group SW20 have of the designs 🐦.
📆 Events and Happenings
🔧 The Wee Spoke Hub sessions are on festive hiatus - see their schedule for details and times early in 2024 including a Bike DIY session on 4th January.
It looks like everything else has ground to a halt too, hibernation time.
🛣 Road Closures and Route Issues
😷 Abbeymount at Montrose Ter - closed to southbound traffic for SGN gas leak repairs;
🛣️ Telford Rd Between Telford Dr and Telford Gdns - Northbound inside lane closed for collapsed gully repair;
🌭 Lorne Square (assumedly home of the square sausage?!) in Leith is closed for Scottish Water pipe repairs until around Friday 22nd;
⚽ Saturday 23rd: Fitba in Gorgie with Hearts v St Mirren, kick-off 3pm - McLeod St, Wheatfield St and Wheatfield Pl closed before and after the match;
Ongoing…
⚠️ Inglis Green Road’s cycleways have been removed pending extensive works in the area 🐦;
🔧 Continuing road closure in Morningside on Tipperlinn Rd at South Morningside Pl for gas leak repairs;
⛔ Closure of King Stables Rd between Lothian Rd and Barrace Steps, even to cycles - at least according to the Council’s roads report. Likely still passable via the pavement, depending on your steed;
🪣 Resurfacing works on Viewforth in Bruntsfield ongoing - their third phase started 13th Dec with the road closed between Viewforth Sq and Gilmore Pl until around Friday 22nd;
🦩 Water of Leith: in Leith, 23 remaining weeks of closure at a section of the shared walkway - Spokes have worked with the Water of Leith Conservation Trust on suggested diversions [PDF] during the Coalie Pk closure.
🧑🎄 High Culture Christmas 2023: 12hr daily partial closures of Castle St for Edinburgh’s Christmas are ongoing: between George St and Rose St, plus North Castle St at George St, 10am - 10pm daily; Waverley Br closed 9.30am - 10.30pm daily except for taxis accessing the rank via Market St); George St closed except for cycles (at all times) and loading (6.30am - 9.30am daily);
⛏️ CCWEL-adjacent works on Charlotte Sq and North / South Charlotte St running until March 2024:
Phase 1 and 2 are completed;
Phase 3 begins 8th Jan ‘24 - daytime lane closures on Charlotte Sq (east side), North and South Charlotte Street, daytime closures of Charlotte Sq (south and west sides).
💡 Footway works and street lighting renewal on Polwarth Gdns, involving lane closures and parking restrictions. Polwarth Pl, Polwarth Pk, Harden Pl and Mertoun Pl will be closed as work progresses, running until March ‘24;
💧 9-month programme of Scottish Water drainage improvement work on Longstone Rd 🐦;
🧰 Braidburn Ter closed (dismount to pass via pavement) at the end of the Greenbank-Meadows Quiet Route while the new pedestrian and cycle realm enhancement works 🐦 are underway.
Ongoing updates on the Council’s Road reports page as the week unfolds and via @edintravel 🐦on TwiXtter.
Thanks for reading - ride safe and have a great week! 🚲
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If you find this useful, could you recommend it to someone? Why not forward to a friend, or just point them to edi.bike online. If you run into anything that might be a good fit for next time, feel free to send it over. And if you read all this way, clearly that festive wind-down at work really is a thing :)