With the consultation now well underway, the Spokes draft response is developing well. You can find it here [1.9MB pdf]. We strongly stress that this is a work in progress and there are likely to be considerable further edits, particularly to the second part of the response, dealing with individual sections of the route.
Major updates and ideas in the draft, since our initial thoughts, include..
- An introductory section on bikes and tramlines, which includes lessons from our tramline-crash reporting tool and from earlier phases of Edinburgh tram
- Detailed commentary on all sections of the route [several sections still require considerable fleshing out]. Some major issues/opportunities arising include..
- Great concern over cycling safety in the Bridges corridor. We urge single-line working for this section, or possibly the tramlines on one side of the road with bidirectional segregated cycling on the other side
- We suggest dropping North Bridge tram stop and replacing it by two stops – at Waverley Steps to serve east Princes Street and the rail station, and at the North Bridge arcade, to serve the Old Town and again the rail station. There are multiple reasons for this suggestion, in addition to a major cycling safety aspect
- There may be an opportunity to incorporate an active travel bridge over the mainline railway, linking the North Edinburgh Network to the new Fountainbridge link, without the long ramps down to road level and up again.
What you can do
- Above are just some of the highlights of our draft response – there is a wealth of other detail, and we welcome any feedback
- Forward our draft to anyone who may be interested
- Repost our bluesky post
- Like our facebook article
- Most important of all – submit your own response to the consultation. Use the online QA and/or the email address given.