Edinburgh traffic: Roads set to reopen with segregated cycleway in controversial Spaces for People scheme

A traffic ban looks set to be lifted in one of Edinburgh's most controversial Spaces for People schemes.

A consultation on the future of road restrictions in Morningside's Braid estate found residents were divided over the options presented, but the one attracting the most support was to create a segregated cycle route through it and reopen the roads to traffic. The council's transport and environment committee is due to agree on the way forward at its meeting on Thursday.

The Spaces for People scheme around Braid Road - part of the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route - has been a hot topic ever since measures were introduced soon after the start of the Covid pandemic in a bid to make it easier for people to walk and cycle while observing social distancing.

The planters blocking access on Braid Road may soon be disappearing.

The scheme has been modified since then, but local concerns persist. Transport and environment convener Scott Arthur said: "People aren't happy with the way it is just now - there's still quite a lot of traffic cutting through the area on its way somewhere else, but because it has to take quite a convoluted route people feel that streets which were previously quiet are now too busy and drivers aren't always best-behaved.

"Those problems were added to due to the way Braid Road was opened to two-way traffic and since then there have been more concerns from cyclists about the operation of the route as well, so it's not quite working just now."

Three options were drawn up, all of which the council said would fulfil the aim of providing safe walking and cycling routes.  Option one, which attracted 29 per cent support, proposes modifying the current scheme by introducing additional filters to remove through traffic from all streets internal to the Braid Estate, requiring through traffic to route via Hermitage Drive and Midmar Drive.

Option two proposes re-opening Braid Avenue to through traffic, with segregated cycleways on Braid Avenue and Hermitage Drive. Filters would be retained on Braid Road and adjusted to remove through traffic from Hermitage Gardens. Ten per cent backed that idea.

And option three, favoured by 48 per cent, proposes re-opening Braid Avenue and Braid Road to through traffic, with segregated cycleways on Braid Avenue and Hermitage Drive.

Cllr Arthur said he had hoped for a clear consensus over what should happen. But he said: "The community has varying views on the best way forward.  If I'd responded to the consultation I'd probably have gone for option two. But where we are with this now, I think we have to respect what local people are saying and go for option three, a fully segregated route through the area."

He said it had been made clear that option three would involve the loss of some parking spaces.  And he said he thought it would probably mean slightly higher traffic levels in the Braid estate generally.

The proposed cycleway would be marked out with a kerb, like this one in Holyrood Road, rather than rubber lane defenders and plastic bollards often used.

But he promised the segregated cycleway would not involve the rubber cycle lane defenders and plastic bollards used in many schemes. "People just don't like them," he said.  "Rather than repeating that in this area, where we're trying to start afresh and rebuild relationships with the community, we're going to go for a higher standard design."  The plan is that the cycleway will be separated from the main carriageway by short lengths of kerb, as used in Holyrood Road. 

Cllr Arthur said: "I hope whichever of the three options we pick will be something the community can get behind.  And hopefully the quality of the design will give people more confidence in what we're doing as well."