Edinburgh traffic..... gawd help us !
Discussion
Ive been working near to Edinburgh for over a year now, been absolutely horrific with the traffic. like some of the road design is just so against driving and the motorist.
I leave work and come out of a temporary car park near to the ERI. There is a bus gate to my right so have to turn left. I have a choice but they both lead to the A7 one direct the other weaves around the hospital.
the A7 towards sheriff hall is a joke. South towards the B701 you have a stupid traffic island a few hundred yards before the traffic light junction. so you cant get traffic splitting for the junction. Then likewise as you go through you come to the traffic lights for the wisp - this again isn't splt so you have traffic queuing for the lights in one line.
The road is substandard and crammed every night. drip and drab into sheriff hall and then the bypass - oh the joys. no thought to getting traffic moving okay and making reasonable use of the road. Or shock horror build another road, something that relieves the traffic and lets it flow better, would reduce the stress of the commute and decrease pollution.
I leave work and come out of a temporary car park near to the ERI. There is a bus gate to my right so have to turn left. I have a choice but they both lead to the A7 one direct the other weaves around the hospital.
the A7 towards sheriff hall is a joke. South towards the B701 you have a stupid traffic island a few hundred yards before the traffic light junction. so you cant get traffic splitting for the junction. Then likewise as you go through you come to the traffic lights for the wisp - this again isn't splt so you have traffic queuing for the lights in one line.
The road is substandard and crammed every night. drip and drab into sheriff hall and then the bypass - oh the joys. no thought to getting traffic moving okay and making reasonable use of the road. Or shock horror build another road, something that relieves the traffic and lets it flow better, would reduce the stress of the commute and decrease pollution.
Allowing HOV use of bus lanes would only go against bus movements so that wouldn't work. also bus stops frequently so that would go against the traffic.
Its the pinch points that cause chaos. Gyle roundabout with traffic heading towards Edinburgh off of the bypass grid locks the roundabout. traffic along the broadway tails right back. Traffic on the bypass tails right back.
The council def want to make it hard for drivers and try to discourage by making it painful. It doesn't work. People will continue to use cars as it takes a hell of a lot to put folks off. Id rather use my car then suffer buses or trains. Hate them.
Traffic from the M9 to the A8 at Newbridge piles up as its trapped as there is no properly set out filter to get the traffic to move into the mainflow easily. Its too close to the roundabout and makes it dicy as hell to merge. speeds there are pretty fast for traffic coming of the roundabout. There is room to take away the centre reservation here and replace it with a concrete barrier. Provide three lanes along from that section to allow safe merging. trouble is there are a lot of houses along the road and that creates issues. Add in a bus stop and on street parking.
M8/M9 merge to Hermistongait needs to be three lanes or even four, there is a diverge before Hermistongait so that makes a natural lane drop point. The roundabout is exactly the same as the Gyle one, it clogs as people block the roundabout and this just knocks on to the traffic and hence we get lots of queues on the approaches.
If the council looked at the roundabout and made some simple alterations and added in some camera patrolled yellow box junctions they could sort out that disaster. The bypass is also difficult right after Hermistongait heading east. Its a busy section with no shoulders and a significant climb. Sort that out - expand the road and make it either three lanes or even add in a shoulder this will improve the flow and if you can do that then you will improve the impact on the traffic flowing into that section. Its not the cars but the HGV traffic once you slow that down it takes them a long time to get up to speed again and that slowness impacts the road capacity especially when its only two lanes. in use.
Its a pity they don't grab the bull by the horns now and concentrate on sorting out the bypass. forth bridge done, M8 link completed, M80 completed, Aberdeen bypass about complete. So now sort out the mess around Edinburgh. The change in flows when the M8 was extended to Edinburgh bypass needs to be taken into account. Make the M8 flow freeflow onto the bypass and make the bypass the M8.
The low hanging fruit ? The A7 ? give it to one of the local universities to do a study on and make suggestions for improvements. let them come back with some ideas, that will give the council a fright if someone external to them comes up with some good reasonably costed solutions for an issue the council don't see or actually maybe don't choose to see.
Back to the west end ? the airport ? some of the morning crawl can be attributed to the airport run, Well here is a solution. Build a junction with the M8 and link it to the airport. Provide some decent parking around this junction and add in a tram link from the parking to the airport.
Doesn't need to be difficult does it ?
Its the pinch points that cause chaos. Gyle roundabout with traffic heading towards Edinburgh off of the bypass grid locks the roundabout. traffic along the broadway tails right back. Traffic on the bypass tails right back.
The council def want to make it hard for drivers and try to discourage by making it painful. It doesn't work. People will continue to use cars as it takes a hell of a lot to put folks off. Id rather use my car then suffer buses or trains. Hate them.
Traffic from the M9 to the A8 at Newbridge piles up as its trapped as there is no properly set out filter to get the traffic to move into the mainflow easily. Its too close to the roundabout and makes it dicy as hell to merge. speeds there are pretty fast for traffic coming of the roundabout. There is room to take away the centre reservation here and replace it with a concrete barrier. Provide three lanes along from that section to allow safe merging. trouble is there are a lot of houses along the road and that creates issues. Add in a bus stop and on street parking.
M8/M9 merge to Hermistongait needs to be three lanes or even four, there is a diverge before Hermistongait so that makes a natural lane drop point. The roundabout is exactly the same as the Gyle one, it clogs as people block the roundabout and this just knocks on to the traffic and hence we get lots of queues on the approaches.
If the council looked at the roundabout and made some simple alterations and added in some camera patrolled yellow box junctions they could sort out that disaster. The bypass is also difficult right after Hermistongait heading east. Its a busy section with no shoulders and a significant climb. Sort that out - expand the road and make it either three lanes or even add in a shoulder this will improve the flow and if you can do that then you will improve the impact on the traffic flowing into that section. Its not the cars but the HGV traffic once you slow that down it takes them a long time to get up to speed again and that slowness impacts the road capacity especially when its only two lanes. in use.
Its a pity they don't grab the bull by the horns now and concentrate on sorting out the bypass. forth bridge done, M8 link completed, M80 completed, Aberdeen bypass about complete. So now sort out the mess around Edinburgh. The change in flows when the M8 was extended to Edinburgh bypass needs to be taken into account. Make the M8 flow freeflow onto the bypass and make the bypass the M8.
The low hanging fruit ? The A7 ? give it to one of the local universities to do a study on and make suggestions for improvements. let them come back with some ideas, that will give the council a fright if someone external to them comes up with some good reasonably costed solutions for an issue the council don't see or actually maybe don't choose to see.
Back to the west end ? the airport ? some of the morning crawl can be attributed to the airport run, Well here is a solution. Build a junction with the M8 and link it to the airport. Provide some decent parking around this junction and add in a tram link from the parking to the airport.
Doesn't need to be difficult does it ?
I drive from Broxburn to Little France. I ended up after a year giving up and getting an auto makes a difference.
However the roads are terrible. No longer use the M8 in the mornings. A8 Gyle bypass and have to be at the Gyle no later than 6:30. any later you are in for a slow slog over the Baberton brow. The slip road up to the bypass from Hermistongait is a dangerous bit of road. the number that come up there and expect the right to merge is amazing. give way to the main line please.
The road layout with lane one being continuous up and onto the bypass is a good idea just pity some don't see it that way. That's sometimes what happens when you work with what you have got. Maybe you need to make some investments to the infrastructure.
Newbridge ? remove the onstreet parking and close up any access to the A8 - move the existing access a few hundred yards east. Redesign the merge and make it one lane to three lanes for at least 700 yards. Give traffic time to merge and not from a standing start.
For the Gyle - sort out the conflicts - widen the western bridge. approach signs to the roundabout from the bypass split to three flows - A8 West local A8 east. stack the A8 east and provide yellow box junctions. keep that traffic separate from the roundabout mainline through an inner curve. Sort out the maybury while you are at it and get rid of the pinch points.
However the roads are terrible. No longer use the M8 in the mornings. A8 Gyle bypass and have to be at the Gyle no later than 6:30. any later you are in for a slow slog over the Baberton brow. The slip road up to the bypass from Hermistongait is a dangerous bit of road. the number that come up there and expect the right to merge is amazing. give way to the main line please.
The road layout with lane one being continuous up and onto the bypass is a good idea just pity some don't see it that way. That's sometimes what happens when you work with what you have got. Maybe you need to make some investments to the infrastructure.
Newbridge ? remove the onstreet parking and close up any access to the A8 - move the existing access a few hundred yards east. Redesign the merge and make it one lane to three lanes for at least 700 yards. Give traffic time to merge and not from a standing start.
For the Gyle - sort out the conflicts - widen the western bridge. approach signs to the roundabout from the bypass split to three flows - A8 West local A8 east. stack the A8 east and provide yellow box junctions. keep that traffic separate from the roundabout mainline through an inner curve. Sort out the maybury while you are at it and get rid of the pinch points.
Edited by ruggedscotty on Sunday 4th March 11:42
Edited by ruggedscotty on Sunday 4th March 11:54
Gassing Station | Scotland | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff