🚲 edi.bike | issue 20 | 🎁 25th Dec ‘23
cycle news wrapped up with a bow
🎄 Merry Christmas! We’ve arrived at our 20th issue of this wee thing with almost exactly 900 folks reading it each week. It’s been a pleasure to bring you a wee snippet of what’s happening here, there and everywhere and a big thanks to all of you for reading it.
Welcome to your weekly roundup of cycle travel news, events and infrastructure progress in Auld Reekie. Work might stop, but we keep rolling!
📰 News this Week
🌆 Locally
🎁 Local charity Bikes for Refugees (Scotland) raised just over £2k 🐦 with their Christmas fundraising;
🚁 The Council have published some nice flyover / drone footage 🐦 of the work in progress on the Roseburn to Canal walking and cycling route;
📆 Just concluded - have a last look over Infrasisters’ online ‘Advent calendar of Crap Infrastructure’!
From last issue: new bike shop Society Cycles now open in Morningside; Spokes have some details 🐦on getting chicane barriers swapped to bollards.
🏴 Nationally
💰 A relatively small bump for Active Travel in the Scottish Government budget announcements; while on paper going from 5.3% of transport spending in 2023-2024 at £189m to £220m for this year sounds like a reasonable increase, the overall Transport budget has also increased, so in real terms it’s at more like 5.6% for this year. Given promises of either 10% of the transport budget or £320m (whichever is more) to Active Travel by 2024-2025, it’s disconcerting not to see a bit more of an upward trajectory for these numbers. Spokes 🐦 and Transform Scotland 🐦 have some comments on TwitXter, and Jim Densham shared a useful chart 🐦 of the year-over-year budgeting trend.
🌍 Elsewhere
A couple of recommended reads for your next bit of festive downtime;
🤔 This article by researcher Lindsay Broadwell — hot on the heels of her time at the International Cargo Bike Festival — discussing the idea of ‘imaginaries’ and fixed ideas of what constitutes a ‘normal bike’;
🐦 This Twitter thread by Melissa & Chris Bruntlett of 25 cities making radical changes to improve cycling and urban living. There’s no (good) reason we can’t have radical changes like this in Edinburgh too.
🫂 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
🧭 Looks like CCWEL works on Randolph place have concluded;
⛰️ Braid Rd has reopened to motor traffic as laid out in this update from transport Convenor Cllr Scott Arthur; there were some good points raised regarding surface consistency for active travel crossings on TwitXter 🐦;
Ongoing…
⛵ Musselburgh Active Toun consultation currently ongoing - shared with us by Andrew Keba, 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 Bike Station have announced their AGM 🐦:
The Bike Station's AGM will be taking place on the 23rd January 2024 from 2pm to 3:30pm at our Causewayside branch - 250 Causewayside, Edinburgh, EH9 1UU
There’s a form to fill out if you plan on attending (currently broken but we’ll publish a link nearer the time when it’s fixed).
🔧 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. They have just become an official Cycling Scotland training provider and will be starting some Adult Cycling Classes in the new year amongst other types of training.
🛣 Road Closures and Route Issues
🌳 Roads in Holyrood Park are closed to motor vehicles today and tomorrow (26th), making for some nice quiet roads for a wee cycle! On Monday 1st January, the following roads will be closed for a New Year's Day Triathlon 8am - 5pm:
Holyrood Park Rd (except for access to East Parkside)
Holyrood Gait
Horse Wynd
Queen's Drive
⚽ The Easter Rd area sees Hibs v Hearts fitba kick-off 8pm on the 27th Dec; roads closed before and after the match are:
Hawkhill Ave / Cl
St Clair St
Albion Pl / Rd / Ter / Gdns
Harrismith Pl
🔥 Significant closures around the Torchlight Procession on the 29th Dec:
Pedestrian / Cycling closures of the following from 5pm to 10pm:
Middle Meadow Walk from Simpson Loan to N Meadow Walk, and from Melville Dr to Jawbone Walk / Boy’s Brigade Walk - and subsequently also closed from Simpson Loan up to Teviot Pl / Lauriston Pl from 6.30pm to 10pm;
Jawbone Walk
Boy’s Brigade Walk
General road closures of the following from 6pm to 10pm:
Forrest Rd
Lauriston Pl from Forrest Rd to Heriots (at the vehicle entrance);
Teviot Pl, Lothian St
Potterrow from Bristo Pl to Marshall St;
Brighton St, Chambers St
Candlemaker Row from Merchant St to George IV Bridge
Also closed from 6pm and reopening from 11pm:
George IV Bridge, Lawnmarket, Bank St
Castlehill from Ramsay Ln to Lawnmarket
Johnston Ter, Castle Ter, Cornwall St, Cambridge St, Grindlay St.
🏉 Roseburn on 30th Dec - the 1872 Cup Rugby match is on at Murrayfield, kick-off 3pm and sees Roseburn St between Westfield Rd and Russell Rd — and Riversdale Br — all closed 4pm - 5.30pm;
♥️ Further fitba closures on 30th Dec in Gorgie for Hearts v Ross County, kick-off 3pm - roads closed before and after the match:
McLeod St
Wheatfield St / Pl
🎉 Hogmanay Road Closures on, somewhat predictably, the 31st Dec can be found in this PDF.
Ongoing…
😷 Abbeymount at Montrose Ter - still closed to southbound traffic for SGN gas leak repairs til around Fri 29th;
⚠️ 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;
🦩 Water of Leith: in Leith, 22 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.
🧑🎄 SANTA! I KNOW HIM! 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;
💧 A significant programme of Scottish Water drainage improvement work on Longstone Rd until mid summer ‘24;
🧰 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. There’a a comprehensive update from Council Officers on the works in this recent post from Cllr Scott Arthur.
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 lovely break 🚲
📣 Share with a pal / Send us your news ✍🏼
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, I’ll bet you’re at your in-laws this year ;)