Back our campaign for action on the Kirkliston cross roads
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been out and about, knocking and doors and speaking with residents across Kirkliston.
One of the biggest issues raised in the traffic problem at the Kirkliston cross roads. It is clear that this is a problem which is getting worse and worse. People are late for work, having problems getting their kids to school on time and missing important medical appointments because of delays at the village junction.
I believe we need the Council to take an urgent lead on this, bringing together transport officials, community groups and others so a proper action plan can be developed and agreed to improve the junction and prevent the build up of traffic. This would likely involve improvements to the sequencing of the lights as well as other structural changes.
It is also important that we improve local bus services so more people feel able to leave their cars at home and use local buses. Given the state of the current service and costs of tickets, that is simply not possible for many residents.
They could have built 3 Ross though the new estates to avoid this but no, traffic can’t pass through there! So now everyone has to go through the cross!!
Yeah,it is a nightmare
They should remove the bus camera on eilston road to allow traffic through there, to remove some traffic from the main crossroads.
I agree I live on Main Street and it is almost impossible to plan for visiting people, getting to hospitals or meetings during peak rush hours which are getting longer and longer.
It’s great that so many new people are coming to live in this community but our infrastructure has not caught up with all the proposed development frustrations are mounting and I fear an accident will happen if nothing is done soon.
Opening Eliston Road wouldn’t help the traffic but make it worse- in that we would be surrounded by traffic avoiding the M9 spur congestion
Cameras -traffic lights between Kirkliston and South Queensferry could however ease the volume attempting to avoid the motor way
We do not want to become a West Lothian rat run
You cannot stop people driving through the village, if you take away the bus camera in the new estate it will become not safe for children. This was always going to be an issue with the amount of new houses being built in the villages and surrounding areas. I will be amazed if there is anything that can happen.
Something needs done. We would not have moved to the village if we’d known what the increase in traffic would be like.
I agree Alison – I viewed the development at least 5 times before I moved out here but all at weekends when the traffic was manageable.
I’ve been late for meetings, have had to turn back and cancel classes, have missed trains and generally wasted a lot of time and petrol stuck in traffic since moving here in July. Given the traffic often tails back along the B800 from South Queensferry and into Kirkliston the root cause can’t solely stem from the new developments. Kirkliston is generally used as a through route for Fife, West Lothian and Edinburgh commuters and while the village iteelf has become a bottle neck, the problem stretches from Barnton/Maybury/Gogarburn out West. There needs to be a wider traffic alleviation strategy for this whole area. Good luck Kevin and team, you have my utmost support.
Diverting traffic through Eilston road would only serve as a temporary measure given the growth of Kirkliston and West Lothian. Lets not forget at present it’s only 1 lane.
More access to and from the surrounding motorways to the West and North via new sliproads would help alleviate traffic trough the cross roads.
The time to have prevented problems at the cross was when it was possible to refuse planning permission for 800 houses . CEC planners were happy to accept road traffic survey data from developers with a vested interest in supplying that data from 1943 and taken at midnight- so of course there was capacity for more cars on paper – that said I commend you for trying to recapture the horse which has now bolted. CEC roads engineers have played at a partial fox and not delivered on earlier promises made To the community council for improvements-‘ a more Strategic review is badly needed by CeC, leading to an action plan – one where they then stick to timescales to resolve. Until then a blanket ban on more houses in Kirkliston and a commitment by cec to join up with West Lothian council to deal with traffic coming from the new Winchburgh developments is long overdue and badly needed.
Yet again the finger is getting pointed at the new homes in North Kirkliston – they account for a tiny fraction of the vehicles causing the problem.
Strangely enough when the Forth Road Bridge closed last December, (please can we make this an annual event), there was virtually no traffic travelling on the North/South roads through the village. Perhaps that should let people know where the rel traffic problem stems from.
Opening up the bus gate on Eilston Road will cause more traffic issues than it will solve!
It’s not only the cross that that’s a problem, the traffic from Burnshot Road adds to the problem which is very heavy at
peak times
I would also like to see box junctions in place just opposite the nursery near almondhill Road as it’s very difficult to get out in the morning
I don’t think opening the bus lane is an option. The estates are filled with young children, the road actually passing a play park. The increase of traffic would be an unnecessary and unacceptable danger.
The problem is not the villagers but the commuters driving through the village. More should be done to encourage traffic to use the main arteries.
The opening of bus lane would only assist drivers between winchburgh and bridge, where an alternative road already exists (via Newton). Could this road not be upgraded?
Great idea.
However, any changes should not result in a transfer of the issue to another location.
Having the bus lane on Kirklands Park Street prevents a rat run through an estate with many children, pets, elderly, etc.
Unfortunately, the planning process failed to exclude opportunities (by use of fencing, rocks, trees, bollards, etc) for the idiot drivers who now see fit to drive straight over Maude Park to avoid the congestion at the cross and the bus camera at Kirklands Park St.
The back log at the cross is only going to get worse with the plans for all the new housing off the B800 / back of Springfield and at the top of Echline. Not a single person I’ve spoken to who lives in The Ferry wants these changes and the roads can’t cope already, Kirkliston and Queensferry will be grid locked. No more houses!
This is a huge problem in the village. Often the lights change around 7 times and I’m still waiting to turn right. Some nights the filter doesn’t come on and so many cars go through the red!!
I agree with you. It’s such a nightmare in the evenings as well just to take a right from the country road to the main road ☹️
First bus £1:80 from library to the stop at Buie bare, they more encouraging walking than public transport.
It takes 20 mins, at least, to travel from the roundabout at Buie to the crossroads in the morning now. Clearly there has been an increase in traffic coming from Winchburgh and possibly further afield. I am really not sure what solution you could come to that wouldn’t involve major infrastructure expenditure, which isn’t going to happen. I also recall the road being much quieter when the bridge was closed. A proper study and assessment of where the traffic is coming from is the first step. Good luck getting someone in the Council to do that!
Make it around about do away with lights you could do a new road parallel to the rail line