Edinburgh roads: Improvements planned for junction branded 'deathtrap' by sight loss charity

Last year Sight Scotland condemned the crossing facilities at the three-way junction of Telford Road, Hillhouse Road and Strachan Road as "not fit for purpose".

The charity said the junction had no tactile paving, no audible signals and was “putting the lives of vulnerable people at risk”. The poor facilities made the junction a “danger zone” for people with sight loss, Sight Scotland claimed.

The three-way junction of Telford Road, Hillhouse Road and Strachan Road has been branded as deathtrap by Sight Scotland. | supplied

But now the city council's transport and environment committee will be asked to allocate up to £50,000 for series of measures to improve the junction.

The measures would see  the installation of tactile paving and realignment of the kerbing to improve crossing facilities. The upgrade would also include constructing larger islands on Strachan Road.

And it would be funded under the council’s new Local Traffic Improvement (LTI) programme, which invites community organisations to propose projects which would make a difference in their area.

When it highlighted the problems at the junction in November last year, Sight Scotland said it was “astonished” to find it had been taken off the list of junctions to be upgraded.

Caroline Hedley, a rehabilitation and mobility worker with Sight Scotland, said at the time: “This junction poses a major risk to anybody with visual impairment, and we are extremely worried that it will take a serious accident before any action is taken. Due to the complicated layout of the crossings, the poor pedestrian crossing facilities and the heavy fast-moving traffic, it is dangerous and inaccessible to most blind and partially sighted people.

“The pedestrian crossings do not have audible signals or revolving cones, and some are in need of basic repair. Also, there are few protective barriers at this junction which makes me as a sighted person feel very vulnerable, so I can’t imagine how someone with vision impairment would feel. Strachan Road simply has no pedestrian crossing facility at all.”

The committee will consider the proposed improvements at he junction when it meets on Thursday. Transport and environment convener Scott Arthur tweeted: “We have listened to @SightScotland, and I hope that at the next Transport & Environment Committee meeting we will be able to allocate cash to resolve this problem.”