Sightlines

Given this is basically a back blip I can share the email exchange about the reason behind this photo that took place the following day....

Hi there, I'm contacting you as the Councillors for the area within which the St Leonard's Street and Bowmont Place junction lies. This is where the great new cycle infrastructure is being put in place to link the Innocent Tunnel to the Meadows. It's great to see this happen as the closing of a missing link, and can only benefit this as a family network type route.
 
The other day, however, I came across a slight issue at the above junction. I've put a link to a YouTube video below. I had simply assumed that the driver in this instance had ignored the Give Way line before crossing the new lane (I realise the lane isn't 'officially' open yet, but the road markings are certainly in place to make it appear so to anyone crossing it). On the challenging of a few people I went back to check the sightlines, and basically from the Give Way line a driver has no chance of seeing down the cyclepath. I've linked to a photo on Flickr I took from the line, and noting that as I was on my bike I'm somewhat higher than a driver will be. 
 
This means drivers have absolutely no chance of seeing if there is a cyclist using the lane, they have to pull forward past the line, and once beyond that the markings don't oblige a driver to stop anymore until the actual main road, which essentially encourages them to drive over the cyclepath (which is also the problem with the second Give Way line, it puts the 'stop to wait for the road to be clear' point right on the cyclepath.
 
I know that the Council has previously undertaken study trips to the likes of Copenhagen and Amsterdam. I've cycled in both, as well as Paris, which is a somewhat unexpected cycling city, and the solution in all three (and others I've seen) is a little different. There is only one Give Way line, which is set just before the cyclepath. Drivers have to wait until the cyclepath AND the road is clear before pulling out. This obviously means that the driver will be stopped over the pedestrian point (which I presume is the reason for the current set-up), but that's no different to the current situation on any side street joining the main road (and a pedestrian can legally go round the back of a stopped car - technically if a cyclist is faced with a car stopped at the junction, to ride round the back would require moving onto the pedestrian part of the path, therefore committing an offence).
 
The new infrastructure is so so close to being very good indeed, but it's some way off the way it's done in true cycling cities such as the above mentioned Copenhagen etc. and it's not as if those solutions actually require any additional effort (in fact it involves less paint).
 
I realise this email could easily be interpreted as yet another whinging cyclist, but if anyone wants to pigeonhole people into categories I'm also a driver, homeowner, professional, taxpayer, and voter, who just happens to have seen what cities can achieve if they have the courage to try brand new things on a huge scale, and of course it was the Council which stated cycling 'aspirations' (once upon a time they were 'targets') for cycling in the city, and to be a 'world class cycling city'. Little things like this being close-but-no-cigar make that all seem a way off.
 
Apologies if this message reads as a little frustrated, but like the markings on the road being put into the wrong position on the crossing to the Meadows itself; the wrong tactiles being put in, then the tactiles being put in the wrong direction; virtually the entirety of the 'Quality' Bike Corridor; the missed opportunity that Leith Walk is shaping up to be... Well, it IS a frustrating time to be a cyclist in the city. Better than some, better than MANY, but World Class Cycling City? Doubtful in my lifetime.
 
Where was I? Oh yes, Bowmont Place. Would be great if someone could have another look at it before everything goes live.
 

Many thanks

------

Thank you for the email.  I shall request a response from our cycling team on behalf of all four cllrs (we have a allocation system for those who write to all four of us) and revert to you as soon as I can.  The other cllrs may wish to contact you as well.
On your other points, the tactiles that you mentioned were placed wrongly in error by the contractor and quickly fixed without charge.  Describing such a minor inconvenience as frustrating seems a little unreasonable to me.  In a council with such reputational challenges as Edinburgh has, I feel that our cycling team do well and deserve a lot of credit. For example, the active travel action plan outlines and prioritises improvements very well.  Do please consider whether your words below are not a little harsh. 
I shall be in touch.

Regards

-----

I think we need an official response from the team who have  designed and implemented this project and my fellow councillor XXXX has asked for that (no duplication).
 
I’m a bit more sympathetic than Jim, though, and share your frustrations on many of these issues. I tick all the boxes you do (OK I’m a local politician, not a professional J) and cycle these routes regularly.  The unfinished surfaces on parts of the Quality Bike Corridor frustrate me most!
 
The location  you are describing is St Leonard’s Lane at St Leonard’s Street (Bowmont place is further along). I’ve cycled along it a couple of times – as you say it is far from finished – and felt something not quite right with that junction and the next one up, Hermits Croft.   We will see what the response is.
 
On another issue I note that the new cycleway surface is not as level as you would expect.  I suppose it might slow speeds down a bit – but after seeing your video of that section, I wondered what you thought of it.
 

All other points noted.

-----

Thank you both for the (very quick!) responses.

I certainly wouldn't want to intimate that the Cycling Team weren't doing a good job, I recognise they are fairly constrained, and many of the frustrations (I don't think the term is harsh to be honest) have come from contractor implementation being below what was expected. But often it's from the design stage (as mentioned on the QBC, and in this particular situation with the Give Way Line). Apologies on the location, you are absolutely right, St Leonard's Lane. 

I don't think either of these things can necessarily be laid at the door of the Cycle Team, but the number of times minor things like this happen seems disproportionate (though I'm speaking from a position of no knowledge of how often road changes have to be redone - I try not to drive in the city if I can help it). So really any frustration is borne out of a build-up of issues, whereas obviously each in isolation is pretty minor and my email could indeed have been read as an over-reaction in that case.

I have to say, on the quality of the surface, I've read and heard some people saying it's not good, but I've no particular issue with it (I'd say the section on Buccleuch Street is marginally worse, but I don't think it's anything that would put people off using it, certainly novice/family cyclists looking to avoid the road). As I said previously, I think this could be a great piece of infrastructure, and I guess the full nature of it will be known once it's officially open (it just seemed particularly well timed to have a car come out of that junction and settle across the cycle lane (with nothing else he could have done) on the first occasion I thought I'd try it out!).


Again, thank you both for responding, and I do look forward to hearing an official response (and to using the route once it is complete).