🚲 edi.bike | issue 99 | 30th June ‘25
your weekly edinburgh cycling digest
📰 News this Week
🥈 Bikeable City Ratings Place Edinburgh 8th in UK for City Cycling
PeopleForBikes’ City Ratings measures the quality of a city’s bike network. A bike network is a connected system of protected bike lanes, off-street paths, slow shared streets, and safe crossings that enables people to comfortably bike around a city.
While I’d probably quibble that their methodology seems pretty reliant on a data analysis and mapping tool — rather than qualitative assessments of city cycle networks and how they actually are to cycle on — it’s still interesting to look at comparison / league tables created from it - as pointed out by Spokes, according to People for Bikes Edinburgh is ranked 1st of 4 Scottish cities covered; 8th of the 83 UK cities — though 6th of the entries ahead of us are individual boroughs in London — and 57th of 2901 ranked cities in the world.
And via Edinburgh Festival of Cycling, BikeBiz reports that looking at the same, New cycling ratings reveal the UK continues to lag behind Europe;
📺 Edinburgh-Based ‘Our Streets’ Creator Crowdfunding New Music Video
Dan Abrahams is a musician, composer and cycling campaigner based in Edinburgh, and has made some fantastic music promoting calls for safer roads in the past, with fantastic accompanying videos too:
"After the success of ‘Our Streets’ and ‘Big Car’, I’m raising money to make an epic video for my new song ‘Amsterdam’ which celebrates cycling and cities which prioritise it. Check out the video explaining it all and please ask if you have any questions about the project. I’ll be looking for lots of cyclists to be extras in the video in July."
➡️ You can back the project on Indiegogo, and the first £1,000 is also being match funded by Spokes, so counts double. It would be great to see folks across the community showing up to back this both financially, and volunteering to ride in the video too when the time comes!
🗳️ Transport & Environment Committee - June Roundup
The Council’s Transport & Environment Committee met this week, moving ahead with the next stage in redeveloping George St, awarding £70k of grant funding to Thistle Foundation’s active travel projects, and more - last week we featured the June Agenda (Issue 98) and we have the decisions below, after ‘Local Bits’ ⬇️
🏰 Local Bits
💪🏽 On the 28th June one of our brilliant readers cycled from Glasgow to Edinburgh to raise money for a new, inclusive breastfeeding support charity - and posted a lovely Instagram reel of her experience taking on the ride. Not too late for a congratulatory donation either — 💷 Donate Here »
🍃 The sustainable transport charity Sustrans is producing a new iteration of the Walking and Cycling Index - the biggest survey of walking, wheeling, and cycling in urban areas in the UK and Ireland. The Walking and Cycling Index supports leaders of cities and towns to understand and improve walking, wheeling, and cycling across the UK and Ireland. The Index provides high-quality evidence to help ensure walking, wheeling and cycling are attractive and accessible for everyone.
Are you keen to share your experience walking, wheeling or cycling in Edinburgh? Fill in the survey »
🚸 As a rule, we don’t generally feature stories of cyclists involved in road traffic collisions; but when even kids are getting knocked off their bikes on our roads, it’s hard to put to one side. Fortunately it seems in this case, the child involved was OK, but still an upsetting thing to go through - all the worse that the area is crying out for safer roads for everyone, and has been for quite some time.
📸 Some great shots over on Instagram from A Wee Pedal on one of their recent cycle tours for visitors to the city;
🧮 Regular edi.bike contributor Robbie has a great thread on Bluesky about the weight capacity of the Dean Bridge, often cited as a part of a potential alternative alignment to the Roseburn Path for the new North-South tram line. Also interesting to see a citation in the replies that the bridge is hollow in construction - we’re likely to see more on this later in the summer when the consultation for the tram route launches;
🧭 Did you know SW20 have an electrically assisted Rickshaw in their hire fleet? They shared some lovely photos / video from a recent hire outing to Bluesky;
🔧 From The Bike Station:
Been out and about on your bike in the warmer weather? Fancy learning how to fix a puncture or gain more confidence preparing for longer rides? We've got the course for you!
From puncture repairs and beginners maintenance to professional, accredited Velotech qualifications. Find out more and book now »
Classes fill up fast so make sure to book your spot ASAP!
📹 Excellent flypast video by Steve of Critical Mass Edinburgh’s Saturday ride just before it arrived at the Edinburgh Climate Festival;
📰 Via Spokes, excellent to see this piece in the Evening News by Labour MSP Foysol Choudry about the wider benefits of Active Travel:
Encompassing walking, cycling, wheeling and scootering, active travel offers significant benefits not just for our environment but for our health and communities too. It can be defined as travel that promotes physical activity and does not involve fossil fuels.
🎟️ Festival Show submitted this week: ‘CADEL: Lungs on Legs’:
ONE ACTOR. ONE BIKE. ONE HOUR. Connor Delves is Cadel Evans. The epic true story of the first Australian to win the Tour de France, live on stage. — Tickets at Underbelly »
📦 Via SRD; cargo balance bikes for wee tots, anyone?
Been sent this from Eurobike, a prototype balance cargo bike for 3-5 year olds. Just take my money.
— J.G. Bollard (@jamesnonchalant.bsky.social) 2025-06-27T09:33:58.339Z
⚙️ Spokes have also recently launched their annual competition with a range of excellent prizes - entries welcome on the theme of ‘My favourite bike ride’. Details and lots of local Edinburgh cycling news can also be found in their most recent Action Update [PDF]
🗳️ June Transport & Environment Committee Round-up
The Council’s Transport & Environment Committee (‘TEC’) met last Thursday, for the last time before a summer recess, and as usual we’ve got a round-up of the most relevant cycling or cycling-adjacent items as they were covered out:
🌐 Meeting page »
📋 Full Agenda [PDF] »
📄 Motions and Amendments [PDF] »
🖊️ Deputations »
📆 A couple of interesting nuggets, first; it looks like TEC will be changing to an 8-week cycle, rather than monthly meetings; this will provide some space for Officers to better meet the demands of the committee between ‘cycles’. See the report on the Work Programme [PDF] for more;
👏🏼 Secondly, SW20 picked up on a ringing endorsement of filtered streets from one of the local items at committee.
🏛️ 7.2 - George Street and First New Town
📄 Report » [PDF]
🖼️ Cross-sections and Illustrations [PDF, Page 13 onwards] »
We covered the various tiered options for the redesign of George St in last week’s issue. A lot of other media have been reporting that councillors were choosing between the four pictured levels of ‘value engineering’ options, when in fact the main ask from officers in this report was a continuance for the project — to start the statutory legal processes, and to take the plans onwards to look at external funding over the next six months or so — rather than picking and choosing from different tiers of ‘value engineered’ plans at this stage.
Debate centred largely around the costs of project; the SNP were concerned by the fact that net costs weren’t included, expressed concerns around the potential impact on getting external funding for other active travel projects in the city, and also the fact that funding would be sought from the Active Travel Infrastructure Fund on a project where the ‘active travel’ component had been watered down significantly through maintained vehicle access. Others, like the Lib Dems, were asking to keep the ‘do minimum’ options on the table until the financial implications were clearer, rather than ruling them out at this meeting.
The Conservatives amendment wanted to go for the ‘maintenance only’ option and halt the redesign - proposing to use the parking income from George St to fully fund this, as though they’d just found it down the back of the sofa and it wasn’t already assigned elsewhere in the council’s budget.
A Green Party Addendum noted that the decision on funding George St was essentially made when the City Mobility Plan Capital Investment Programme — the city-wide project prioritisation from last TEC — was agreed, and also sought a more solid confirmation regarding the line in the report stating that two-way cycling would be retained along George St for the duration of the works, which is a welcome bit of forward-thinking regarding major works on what is currently the missing central portion of one of the city’s flagship cycle routes..
In questions, Officers and subsequently the Convener reiterated that it is common to be at this stage of a project and not have external funders fully confirmed, especially prior to statutory processes like Traffic Regulation Orders, and that the right approach was to continue the project and be able to pin down more accurate costs and other financial implications in the coming months by doing so. In addition, the next six months will see the breakout of how Visitor Levy taxes will be split in the city, with the George St project a good candidate to be in receipt of some of the new tax’s revenue.
You can see the Amendments / Addendums tabled by the various parties at pages 5-10 of the Motions & Amendments PDF: the Labour Administration moved the report accepting the SNP’s amendment points 1.1.5 and 1.1.7, the Liberal Democrat addendum in full, and the Green addendum in full; this won with six votes, against the SNP pressing their Amendment (inclusive of the Green and Lib Dem positions) at three votes, and the Conservatives awarded themselves their usual two own-votes.
💰 7.4 - Thistle Foundation Grant - Report » [PDF]
Thistle Foundation’s active travel projects were awarded People & Place grant funding at TEC this month, with nary a word of debate - many congratulations to them!
📦 8.3 - Report: Delivery cyclists – Response to motions [PDF] »
Officers were pressed by Green Councillors on the nature of reaching out to the larger delivery companies - it sounded from the answers like with the exception of Uber Eats, the others (e.g. Deliveroo, Just Eat) are simply impenetrable in terms of finding and contacting anyone there to be held in some way accountable. Stop me if you’ve heard this big tech firm classic before. A more radical council might then say “well, you can’t operate in Edinburgh then” - whether there’s the appropriate powers to back that up, however, is beyond my ken. As mentioned before, the output of the Worker’s Observatory proves instructive here, in terms of some background to these operations in the capital.
In terms of riding behaviour - the only part other than delivering a proper cycle network that truly falls under TEC’s remit - officers noted that Police Scotland now have an enforcement protocol for unsafe use of electric bikes, and there are elements of the report where reports of poor delivery cyclist behaviour and unsafe riding is being seen is more of a police matter in terms of looking for resolutions to it, outside of providing more dedicated cycle infrastructure.
A Green addendum to the report was accepted, calling for the aspects of the report that fell outwith the transport remit of TEC be referred on to the Council’s Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work committee, regarding worker’s rights and the other complex issues around how the gig economy has become woven into our society and streets.
🚙 9.2 - Traffic Impact Assessment for City Mobility Plan Road Closures and A720 Congestion
📄 Motion - Agenda PDF Page 4
ℹ️ I omitted this from last week’s agenda coverage as I ran out of Tory-bashing credits.
What do you do if you’d like to either chuck a time-expensive traffic modeling wrench in the rollout of city centre vehicle reduction, or at the very least look busy and skeptical of it? File a motion at TEC about how big events — concerts and the like — in Edinburgh have displaced traffic onto the bypass, and how we therefore need to think about the bypass (five miles outside the city centre and not managed by the Council) when closing city centre streets to unnecessary through-traffic.
This motion is a near-perfect frustration of Conservative rhetoric; to go as far as naming the problem of traffic congestion, and then to attempt to stare it into submission, rather than look into the underlying causes and what would be necessary to address them.
The administration moved ‘No Action’ on this report - with convener Cllr Stephen Jenkinson challenging the assumption that bypass congestion during big events is due to traffic displacement, rather than extra incoming traffic from outside the city; pointing out that the bypass is entirely the responsibility of Transport Scotland & BEAR; challenging the assumption that measures taken in the CMP will have any impact on the bypass given the distances between the two; and highlighting that we are facing significant population growth in Edinburgh and beyond, and what’s needed are public transport solutions, to give people using the bypass an alternative option. The SNP in contributions further challenged the motion and supported the administration’s move of No Action, which subsequently passed - meaning that a Green amendment to the report which included the withdrawal of the Council’s support of proposed changes at Sheriffhall Roundabout was not voted on.
🇬🇧 National
🚌 Disabled people’s mobility – why Bus Stop Bypasses are sometimes essential - new guidance from Wheels for Wellbeing »
🎓 Bikeability: Why the UK is the “envy of the world” for cycling education at Zag Daily »
🌍 Elsewhere
🌆 Via Jonty, some provocative and considered thinking and writing about cities and community in this piece by Mike Monteiro, ‘How to Leave the House’:
Loneliness is a transportation problem.
I ride through the city on my bike. It’s my main method of transportation. When you ride a bike through the city you are part of the city in a way that you’re not when you’re driving through it. There’s no barrier between you and the city. You are touching it and it is touching you. I know the pace of different neighborhoods. I know the smells of different neighborhoods (sometimes this isn’t a positive, but hey…). But riding through the city reminds me that I am part of the city, and that the city is part of me. It’s both humbling and empowering in a magnificent way that reminds me of how community works. As a kid, I remember my father telling us to lock the doors as we were driving though certain neighborhoods, and there are no doors to lock on a bike. Instead, I have to make common cause with the other people in the bike lane, and the people in the crosswalk, and the people opening their driver side door to break my collarbone. We are all navigating the city. We need to listen to what our city has to say. We need to live in it. We need to touch it.
🛣 Route Closures and Issues
ℹ️ Encountered unexpected road issues? Find out how to report them with this guide from Spokes. The team at Edinburgh Travel News are also keen to hear about cycle path alerts and can be contacted on Threads or Facebook.
🦋 On Bluesky? Follow the #EdTravCyc feed - anyone can use the #EdTravCyc hashtag to share route issues they encounter;
📪 The week’s road closure info - many thanks to regular contributor Robbie for collating and preparing these:
🚧 Queen Charlotte Street, Leith: Closed between Constitution St and Maritime St all this week for Scottish Water repairs, affecting Quietroute 10. At time of writing, works are marked TBC and may be delayed. It may be safer to dismount than divert along the tramlines of Constitution St.
👑 Holyrood Week: Intermittent closures of Horse Wynd outside parliament all this week. All Holyrood Park roads including Queens Drive closed this Tuesday 1st July until 7pm for the Garden Party event. The offroad shared use path is expected to remain open. The closures are manned by police who can advise on cycle access.
🏗️ Craighall Road: Closed from today Monday 30th June until May 2028 for the Refurbishment of Trinity Academy. Access to the Victoria Path is expected to be maintained. A diversion will be signed along Newhaven Road, however the removal of parking for improved traffic flow may lead to this being unsuitable for cycles.
🏫 Gilmerton Road: Segregated cycle lane closed northbound at Liberton High School for Scottish Water repairs until this Friday 4th July.
🚧 Crawford Bridge: Closed at Albion Terrace next week Tuesday 8th July until 17th July for Scottish Water repairs, affecting Quietroute 20. Albion Rd may provide an alternate route.
🚧 Princes Street: May be closed eastbound at South St David Street next week Thursday 10th July for Scottish Water repairs. It has been asked whether cycles will be permitted, so watch this space next week.
Longer Term Closures:
🌉 Harrison Road: two bridges closed due to structural concerns with micro-cracking in the original cast iron beams. Access to cycles is being restricted:
The north-west bridge over a small path is having its deck rebuilt and will be closed to pedestrians and cycles for rebuilding from 7th July until November. The path underneath will close from 28th July, with a signed diversion in place.
The south-east bridge over the Union Canal has been closed for investigations, with fencing placed across the bridge and a gap for cycles. The bridge is expected to re-open to vehicles in July.
⚡ Dryden Street: Link between footbridge and modal filter at Cambridge Ave closed until end of July for Scottish Power upgrades. Leith Walk segregated cycle lanes have largely superseded this route and may offer an alternative.
🚧 Viewforth: Closed for various works until 10th July. If you’re heading between the Union Canal and Bruntsfield, Leamington Ter may be an alternative.
🚧 Stenhouse Drive: road between shared use path along tramline and Water of Leith Path closed at Gorgie Road for SGN works until mid-August. Stenhouse Ave may offer an alternative route.
⛰️ Duddingston Low Road in Holyrood Park: Ongoing inspection works have identified a risk of rockfall, resulting in a closure until further notice. Dismounting to pass is not currently possible. It is anticipated that a fence will be constructed allowing access to cycles and pedestrians only.
🏗️ Port Hamilton Cyclepath: Shared use path between Union Canal and West End closed until 2026/27 for building works. A diversion is advised via Gardeners Crescent and Semple Street.
🚂 Waverley Bridge - concrete barriers have been placed across the southbound lane with no gap. Council officers had planned to replace them with temporary barriers with a southbound cycle lane, however plans have stalled without explanation.
💧 Union Canal: Towpath improvement works are ongoing from Leamington Lift Bridge to Edinburgh Quay until June ‘25. A section of towpath is closed with diversion across the lift bridge and along the southern side of the canal - more info at Scottish Canals.
⚡ Ongoing: The questionable Network Rail ban on ebike parking at Waverley Station - best to make alternative parking plans if travelling from this station at present;
🏹 Lawnmarket and Upper Bow: Road improvements are ongoing until July ‘25; be sure to read the Council’s page about the closures, which managed to completely omit arrangements for a certain human-powered transport mode so mind how you go.
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🎉 Events and Happenings
📆 Upcoming / Ongoing
🚶🏻♀️ Wester Hailes Walk, Pedal and Thrive Project June to October Events at ScoreScotland - mainly based at 📍 Gate 55, 55 Sighthill Rd, and booking required - call / text Madhavi on 07496 190 752 or email madhavi@scorescotland.org.uk.
🚺 Cycle Training for Women Beginners: 5.15pm to 7.15pm, Wednesdays 2nd July, 9th July, 16th July;
🚸 Play Together on Pedals (3 to 6 year olds): Fridays from 2pm to 4pm;
🧭 Led Cycle Rides: Saturdays from 9:45am to 1pm;
🚲 Adult Beginners / Family Cycle Training: text for an appointment.
🧘 More upcoming rides and movement / yoga sessions from Detour [IG]:
This Sunday, 6th July - Yoga by Bike, Porty to Longniddry - 🎟️ Details and Tickets »
🌍 This Saturday 5th July: World Naked Bike Ride Edinburgh, 1pm - more info at wnbr.scot (website contains mild nudity, naturally!)
🖼️ New Venue: The ongoing ‘Pedal Power’ exhibition about cycle campaigning in Edinburgh co-curated by Spokes, Infrasisters, Bike Buses and Edinburgh Critical Mass has moved on from Duncan Place, and can now be found at Norton Park (📍 57 Albion Road) — having been transported across by cargo bike (of course!) in April;
⛰️ Bikepacking event Dirt Dash’s 2025 return continues in July - check out the gorgeous video they put out this week [IG] from a recent event too:
Stans Yorkshire Coast Dirt Dash on 6 & 7 July, and concludes with the Lezyne Dunoon Dirt Dash on 27 & 28 September. Organised by round the world cyclist Markus Stitz, these self-supported rides are designed for cyclists who love off-road riding and are seeking new experiences on their bikes, whether for seasoned gravel riders or anyone new to bikepacking.
💙 Riding LEJOG in memory of Tim McKenna — and raising money for charities Mind, Sustrans and Flight Free UK in his honour. Passing through in August, folks can join for some or all of the route by reviewing the itinerary. Thanks to John Robson for the link;
🎉 For six months starting in September, the ‘Towpath talks’ team will be returning:
Cycling community Talks are back - with the closure of Biketrax in January, the regular cycling talks by MacKenzie Barker (@rekrab82 [IG)] and hosted by Izabela Murtagh (@iza.murtagh [IG]) will be making a return in September using a new venue — Gamma Transport Division in the Comely Bank / Stockbridge area"
Great news. Announcements currently via the Towpath Talks account on Instagram, and we’ll publish dates when available!
💯 Edinburgh RC celebrating its hundredth year in 2025 and have an ongoing challenge encouraging 100 women of all cycling abilities to ride 100km - offering help to anyone who needs it along the way;
🔁 Weekly Events
🍃 Mon, 12-2.30pm: Free, fun group ride on paths from Bridgend Farmhouse;
🌅 Tues, ⏰ 5.40am: Edinburgh Dawn Patrol - Meet St. Andrew Square, same route each time - more info on their Instagram;
☕️Tues, 5pm: [National] Active Travel Cafe on Zoom
🛠️ Weds, 3pm: Bike Kitchen at Edinburgh Tool Library
🌅 Thurs, ⏰ 5.40am: Edinburgh Dawn Patrol (same as Tues, details above);
🪨 Thurs Evenings: Edinburgh Gravel Cycling Club social group rides;
✴️ Thurs, 5-8pm: Bike DIY Session at The Wee Spoke Hub
⚙️ Sat, 2-4pm: ‘Bike Cleaning and Oiling’ drop-in session at The Wee Spoke Hub
🟰 Edinburgh & Lothians Regional Equality Council’s Edinburgh Cycling Club run weekly group rides and introductory classes;
🔁 Monthly Events
🚲 First Friday of the month: Inclusive social bike rides with A Wee Pedal, 1-3pm, from Bridgend Farmhouse;
✊ Last Saturday of the month: Critical Mass Edinburgh, Family-friendly mass protest / group ride, 2pm, Middle Meadow Walk;
🫂 Help Needed
🆘 Via Laid Back Bikes:
Latest Afghanistan fundraiser organised by Shannon Galpin. Every £€$ helps! Since the Taliban takeover she's organised life saving evacuations for 150+ Afghan cyclists (one recently arrived in Dundee, many others across the world!). Donate & pass on if you can 🙏
Their story, as written by Galpin, can be found here — along with the Fundraiser Link »
🧡 The Wee Spoke Hub are looking for a Comms volunteer [IG] and for other roles too;
Ongoing: 🚌 Marshal for School Bike Buses | 🙋 Help with school programme ‘I Bike’ | 🗨️Join Spokes’ Planning or Resources group | 🆘 Donate money or bikes to Bikes for Refugees | 📦⚡️ Hire Community Cargobikes, E-bikes or Trailers from SW20, Porty Community Energy or Banzai | ♻️ Donate old bikes to The Bike Station, The Wee Spoke Hub or ‘Brake the Cycle’.
🌈 Infrastructure Progress & Consultations
✨ This section of the digest will receive a revamp in the coming months to move long-running, detailed consultation information onto web pages, and instead publish a list of links for open and recent consultations (along with summaries for anything actually new). In the meantime, anything new or changed is found near the top. ✨
In Previous Updates:
📐 Having had sight of draft plans, Merchiston Districts Community Council have a blog post on the changes coming to the somewhat infamous mini-roundabout junction in Polwarth after a lot of local campaigning, which sound extremely promising. Consultation coming later in the summer, which we’ll be sure to link to here.
📸 Thanks to ‘Dashed Lines’ on Bluesky for tagging us in their photos of a newly opened ‘missing link’ path built between Greendykes Rd and Hunters Hall Park in the East of the city, following their photos of improvements at Greendykes and construction shots earlier in the year.
📋 New Consultation in Meadowbank for Marionville Rd Cycleway, and Details on Smokey Brae
Following consultation in 2022, the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) has published new web pages (Issue 96, 9th June) detailing plans for protected cycleways on Smokey Brae, including Marionville Avenue and Restalrig Avenue. There are pages featuring visual before / after renders, and others with street layout plans.
These changes are part of an overall plan for the area which now includes a new section being consulted on, featuring a bi-directional protected cycleway on Marionville Rd. The associated consultation is open until the 17th of August, with CEC no doubt hoping to deliver both sets of improvements in tandem in the near future.
📋 Open Consultation: “Walking, wheeling and cycling improvements in Currie” is now open for comments until 6th July. The plans include junction and crossing improvements, and additional cycle parking and access at Curriehill railway station, as well as access into some of the new developments in the area. There is a drop-in session about the plans at Currie Library on 16th June from 2-5pm;
🌳 Progress at Elm Row - with the new combined downhill / uphill section of cycleway behind the bus stops finished up, pending the pavement being reinstated at the former downhill lane - photos from John Robson (Issue 95, 2nd June);
📸 Some great construction photos from Martin (Issue 95, 2nd June), documenting progress on the ‘Foot of the Walk to Dock St’ protected cycleway;
🔭 As spotted by Harry Williams and others, some movement on the ‘Longstone Link’ bridge (Issue 95, 2nd June): a Boundary Map [PDF] and Pre-application Screening have been published on the planning portal, which reads:
The proposal is for a new 5m wide shared-use bridge over the Water of Leith between a new housing development and New Mart Road. The bridge will link on the north east to a 3.5m wide shared-use path that will be widened to 5m wide connecting to New Mart Road in HRA. On the south west, it will connect to a new path to be delivered within the land of the new residential development. On the north west, the existing wooden boardwalk will be altered to connect to the new infrastructure. The location and alignment of the bridge has been selected to minimise the impact on trees, flooding management considerations and to retain the desire line for users crossing the Water of Leith.
🚌 Good to see changes underway at Elm Row, where the downhill cycle lane in front of the bus stops is being combined with a newly widened two-way lane section behind the shelters, reducing conflict with bus passengers (and also reconfiguring some of the parking at Elm Row in a way that hopefully makes a dent in some of the atrocious excesses being committed in the name of vehicle storage). Initially no diversion was provided - on Scotland’s busiest cycleway, well done everyone - but as per Robbie’s excellent Route Closures info above, it looks like this may now have been addressed
🌸 Thursday 8th May saw the meeting of Edinburgh’s full Council, and tabled amongst its business were some clarifying questions to the Transport Convener on the safe implementation of the changes coming to the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route by Green party Councillor Chas Booth; the answers are worth a read through [PDF, Page 17] in terms of some previously unseen detail, including different widths of planned protected cycleway on Braid Avenue depending on whether travel is in an uphill or downhill direction;
⛔ Charlie shared that the Brunstane Road and Coillesdene scheme — TRO/23/14 [PDF] — has works underway presently to make it permanent, which is great to see;
🚶 Pedestrianisation and Cycling Project to Close Lawnmarket to Traffic
Via Harry Williams on Bluesky, news of a new City of Edinburgh Council project commencing in July will see an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) close Johnstone Terrace and Lawnmarket during daytime, with deliveries and loading taking place outside of those hours:
Restrictions will be between
10.30am and 7.30pm, Monday to Saturday
12.30pm and 7.30pm, Sunday
Lawnmarket’s former black vehicle barriers have been removed during works, to be replaced at the end of the current work with mechanised retractable bollards. In addition to this filter, the following changes will be put in place:
Johnston Terrace:
Restricted access for large vehicles when pedestrian and cycle zone is in operation
Removal of existing coach parking
Taxi and private hire pick-up and drop-off areas
Additional blue badge parking
Public and resident parking
Turning area for smaller vehicles including taxis and vans
Castle Terrace:
Coach pick-up and drop-off on Castle Terrace
Relocated residential parking to make way for Coach spaces, at the cost of
Being an ETRO, over the eighteen trial months the council will be looking to monitor the impact and any changes needed before making the scheme a permanent change - including six months of public consultation. There’s also an extensive page of current arrangements, ahead of the ETRO commencing, including changes to through traffic on Castle Terrace.
These welcome (and long overdue) changes are seemingly part of a series of new projects under the heading ‘Improving Old Town Streets’ which starts with Johnstone Terrace and Lawnmarket, and also covers Victoria Street, High Street (west), Cockburn Street, High Street (east) and Hunter Square - all earmarked for changes under the various themes already established by the Transport Committee:
The strategies and plans guiding our proposals
The project reflects our ambition to be net zero by 2030 and the wider vision for the city as set out in our key strategies including:
City Mobility Plan 2021 – 2030: a 10-year strategy to transform the way people, goods and services travel around the city;
City Centre Transformation: an ambitious plan to provide a people-focused city centre, which is a desirable place to live, work and visit.
Our Future Streets (Circulation Plan): a long-term approach for planning transport and improvements to outdoor spaces across the city.
🌸 Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route: ‘Option 3’ Detailed Plans (At Last)
Last Spring, the Labour Administration sided with Tory and Lib Dem colleagues on the Transport and Environment Committee and voted to remove traffic filtering from the Braid Estate, forming a key part of the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route - filters that had reduced through-traffic in the neighbourhood by as many as four thousand cars per day, a vote in direct opposition to several of the councils’ own policies. After a long design process, the plans for ‘Option 3’ (in a strange, consultation-as-referenda programme of stumbling around local objections and procedural glitches) have finally been made available, providing instead a series of protected cycleways through the streets forming the Braid Estate. Recently, Cllr Ben Parker asked for an update at Full Council and received a number of clarifications from Officers.
Neither pro-filter campaigners nor their pro-through-traffic counterparts are particularly thrilled by the plans, which will be implemented using temporary materials under a new Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO). However, thanks to Labour having tabled a last-minute caveat at the time, the ETRO will include the option to revert and reintroduce filters on the estate without requiring further legal process (e.g. another ETRO design and advertisement), so there is still hope if a case can be made that the goals of the project are deemed to have been compromised by reintroducing through-traffic to a liveable neighbourhood…
You can download the plans here [PDF].
📋 Consultation: Edinburgh BioQuarter Active Travel Gaps - Sheriffhall Park & Ride to BioQuarter Campus Route
Now closed (2nd March at 23:59): Consultation spotted by Spokes this week; seeking to connect up both some missing internal links in the active travel pathways around the Edinburgh BioQuarter site at Little France, and also deliver protected cycleways and quiet routes between the site and the Midlothian Council park and ride facility at Sheriffhall:
“Edinburgh BioQuarter partners (City of Edinburgh Council, NHS Lothian, Scottish Enterprise and The University of Edinburgh) are in the process of improving active travel routes and facilities in and around the campus…
The improvements being looked at within this project will see the development of a new active travel route to Edinburgh BioQuarter from Midlothian in the south to plug a 'gap' in the infrastructure. Eliminating the 'gap' will improve accessibility for walkers, wheelers, and cyclists during everyday journeys.”
Detailed Plans and Rationale on the project’s StoryMap »
🗺️ East Lothian Council are carrying out consultations on proposed improvements between Prestonpans and Levenhall; there is of course some local resistance, and it would be great to see folks who feel able to comment responding to the consultation.
Download the (muckle!) combined plan [PDF] or browse the list
🍃 Spokes recently highlighted a new consultation from Midlothian Council to create Active Travel provisions along the A7:
The aim of the project is to improve active travel connections within the study area making it easier for people to walk, wheel and cycle for their everyday journeys and to connect to public transport services more easily. Currently, there is no or limited provision for walking, wheeling and cycling along the majority of the A7 corridor.
The consultation has a deadline of 30th March for comments and input;
📋 Following the recent deadline for the ETRO (Experimental Traffic Regulation Order) consultation for the Northern ‘Travelling Safely’ areas, Spokes shared their final response [PDF] to the various areas and schemes covered - as always, thoughtful input on taking the schemes forward and potential improvements;
📃 From lurking in Community Council mailing lists, I spotted this rather handy document listing upcoming City of Edinburgh Council consultations and their approximate launch dates for the coming year;
🏞️ Via Spokes - in an update from Friends of Burdiehouse Burn Valley Park the start of a new project to improve the valley is ongoing:
Burdiehouse Burn Restoration - Concept Design
“For the Burdiehouse Burn to become a successful and notable blue-green regeneration project, restoring approximately 5 km of the burn and surrounding habitats”
Core project objectives:
Sustainable river restoration
Habitat restoration in the surrounding landscape ✨ 3. Active travel connections
Placemaking & access improvements
Education & engagement of people and organisations local to the burn
Net zero gains
Improve the resilience of the site to climate change.
More in their newsletter »
🏚️ New plans for 21 flats on the site of the derelict Longstone Inn - damaged due to local flooding - have been published, featuring a ramp and alley access to the Burnside path; in addition, the council have now progressed with identifying who owns which bits of land and wall where the Burnside path sinkhole is situated, so discussions with the landowner will be ongoing to come up with a plan for remedial works here to fix not only the sinkhole, but hopefully the underlying cause too.
⚒️ Merchiston Community Council are back on the campaign trail to improve Polwarth’s worst junction. News of the Council commencing a redesign, and more background on the project, can be found on their website;
📋 Dalry ‘Living Well Locally’: the council have published an Initial local resident feedback Report on the Dalry Town Centre proposals [PDF]. There is a summary on the main Consultation page.
🕳️ Photos shared by Longstone Community Council show recent works have provided “Some improvements to the diversion path surface and the gradient made on the Burnside path. Barriers also secured more robustly stopping access to the sinkhole.”;
⬆️ The statutory process for a handful of one-way street cycle exemptions have been published by the Council - available here as a list and more detailed plans: ‘TRO/24/27 - One-way street exemptions for cyclists - Various Roads - Ending on 31 January 2025’. Just one part of a city-wide project over the next 18 months or so to make more one way streets legal for contraflow cycling.
🚧 Works on the West Edinburgh Link project look to be starting at the end of May according to the listings on the Scottish Road Works Commissioner web portal spotted by Longstone Community Council;
🚢 Leith Connections: Foot of the Walk to Dock St Construction Underway, Schedule Shared
🦶Foot of the Walk to ‘Ocean Terminal’ (actually Commercial St)
⚓️ 'Foot of the Walk to Ocean Terminal' - construction is underway on the Great Junction St cycleway, with work on Henderson St recently started too, for around ten months - a protected cycle route as part of Leith Connections, which promises to be a great continuation of the segregated routes slowly taking root in the city centre.
This Leith Connections works leaflet [PDF] outlines the rough timeline for construction of the route.
Confusingly, the project doesn’t go to Ocean Terminal (shades of Roseburn to Union Canal here) and instead gives up at Commercial St, with the Commercial St to Ocean Terminal leg covered by the third phase of Leith Connections (below);
⚓ Leith Connections Phase 3 - Hawthornvale to Seafield
View the:
Consultation Hub Page (now closed to responses);
Detailed Design drawings (PDF) »
🌳 Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route
Some recent movement on the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route, in an update from Blackford Safe Routes and this update from Cllr Ben Parker;
Thanks for reading - ride safe 🚲
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