Post by @cstross@wandering.shop

RE: https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGreens/117297898393100388

This report pertains to Leith Walk which, since the tram route was completed, has become remarkably car-hostile (by design). Most of the side-streets were sealed off, there's only one lane for vehicles (and it's mainly used by buses), there's the segregated cycle route (which itself is abominably badly designed), and southbound cars are actively diverted via Easter Road to Piccardy Place.

"More bikes than cars" on a road constructed to repel car drivers is not exactly a triumphant victory here.

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Fernando Briano

@picandocodigo@mastodon.online 5 hr. ago

@cstross I get so angry every time I walk on Leith Walk (almost every day). I feel like they made an effort to design it so that it's hostile to everyone: pedestrians, cyclists, people taking the bus and car drivers. The people who designed and approved this project should be in jail.

aspragg

@aspragg@ohai.social 7 hr. ago

@cstross It's progress...

Feòrag

@feorag@wandering.shop 6 hr. ago

@aspragg not for pedestrians it isn’t. The cycle lanes and pedestrian paths cross each other, and are separated by a kerb at exactly the right height to cause broken ankles.

Charlie Stross

@cstross@wandering.shop 6 hr. ago

@feorag @aspragg Not to mention the cut-outs in the cycle path to make space for bus stops and loading bays, where the cycle path *and* pedestrian path narrow sharply and there's a bevelled kerb that's nearly invisible and causes ankle sprains and cyclist falls.

Hugo Mills

@darkling@mstdn.social 6 hr. ago

@cstross @feorag @aspragg I walked along it a couple of years ago, and I can confirm that it's an appalling piece of infrastructure for both cyclists and pedestrians.

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Fiona Craig

@FionaCraig@mastodon.scot 5 hr. ago

@darkling @cstross @feorag @aspragg I had to navigate LW as a pedestrian a couple of times this summer and it was hellish from Picardy Place down to Balfour St. Even if you can work out what is/isn't cycle path, cyclists* treat the lanes, arrows and signals as optional, demanding hyper vigilance from pedestrians where they ought to be safest.

It's becomes so hostile to pedestrians I don't want to go back; the closed shops indicate I'm not alone.

* many of whom are on electric motorbikes

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