Sheriffhall Roundabout

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Altnabreac
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by Altnabreac »

Options 1, 2 6 and 8 were taken forward.

Option 1 – Dumbbell Grade Separation at Sheriffhall
Option 2 – All slips provided at Gilmerton, no connection at Sheriffhall
Option 6 – Grade Separated Roundabout at Sheriffhall
Option 8 – Dumbbell Grade Separation West of Sheriffhall, Gilmerton Slips closed

My bet is that Option 8 (the final image posted by Gav above) will be the one taken forward. Any construction at Sheriffhall itself would be horrendously disruptive during contruction and Option 8 moves the worst of the construction to the west and allows traffic to flow relatively freely during the construction period.
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Hagbard
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by Hagbard »

Altnabreac wrote:Options 1, 2 6 and 8 were taken forward.

Option 1 – Dumbbell Grade Separation at Sheriffhall
Option 2 – All slips provided at Gilmerton, no connection at Sheriffhall
Option 6 – Grade Separated Roundabout at Sheriffhall
Option 8 – Dumbbell Grade Separation West of Sheriffhall, Gilmerton Slips closed

My bet is that Option 8 (the final image posted by Gav above) will be the one taken forward. Any construction at Sheriffhall itself would be horrendously disruptive during contruction and Option 8 moves the worst of the construction to the west and allows traffic to flow relatively freely during the construction period.
Options 2 and 8 would further enrage rail campaigners as they would make the only future proofing on the Borders railway redundant. The bridge constructed under the A720 is longer than presently necessary to allow for the future installation of slip roads.
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

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jackal
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by jackal »

So it looks like option 2 has been dumped. That's good because I don't like the idea of only one new pair of slips - it puts too much pressure on the other slips. I don't much like option 8 for the same reason. So my first choice would be option 6 followed by 1.
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Gav
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by Gav »

Option 6 it will be.

Its too busy a junction to have two roundabouts - look at the ikea junction they ended up blocking some of the roundabout to try and make it flow easier. Having one roundabout and singalising it will make it handle the traffic much better. The dumbells are just dumb.
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by cb a1 »

Edinburgh bypass flyover plan revealed wrote:Along with the new flyover, traffic using local roads will be served by a new larger roundabout as part of the new grade-separated junction.

Transport Minister Humza Yousaf said:

“Sheriffhall roundabout is a well-known bottleneck for motorists using the Edinburgh City Bypass. As the only junction on the A720 trunk road which is not grade-separated, it is often the scene of congestion and significant queuing, particularly at morning and evening peak times.

“The Scottish Government remains committed to delivering improvements at this busy junction and having let the public see and comment on the three emerging options late last year, we are now able to identify a preferred option.

“The preferred option will grade separate the junction, separating local traffic from the strategic traffic on the bypass and will allow the traffic on the bypass to flow freely, improving road safety and journey times for all road users.

“We will now take forward the design work to the next stage, which is the detailed development and assessment of the preferred option, with a view to publishing draft Orders for the scheme in 2019 for formal comment.”
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jackal
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by jackal »

Option 6 it is then.
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wrinkly
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by wrinkly »

Ground investigations contractor appointed:

https://news.gov.scot/news/a720-sheriff ... ract-award
green light
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by green light »

Plans for new Edinburgh City Bypass flyover near Sheriffhall delayed by Scottish Government

https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/ed ... s-18077824
Plans for a new Edinburgh City Bypass flyover near Sheriffhall have been delayed by the Scottish Government.

The £120million scheme is aimed at easing the notoriously bad congestion at the Sheriffhall roundabout.

It was previously reported that the development would ease the traffic burden from new housing developments around the south of the city.

However, according to the Daily Record a review of the proposal will now be carried out. A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: "As part of our response to the feedback received during the statutory consultations and our on-going discussions with City Region Deal partners, we will review our proposals."

Adding: "We look forward to continued engagement with City Region Deal partners to inform this review."

The Record also reported that a report revealed that there had been 299 accidents involving injury or death on the route in the last ten years.

Climate protesters had previously been urging transport chiefs to rethink the plans for the new flyover, with campaigners from Extinction Rebellion unfurling a banner which read "more roads, more traffic, more emissions".

The plans were originally unveiled in 2017 as part of the £1bn City Region Deal.

The development would see traffic on the A702 separated so they can continue along the bypass without having to negotiate the four-lane roundabout.

Edinburgh Live reported in December that a video had emerged showing what the flyover would look like.
Last edited by green light on Wed Apr 15, 2020 13:49, edited 1 time in total.
green light
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by green light »

Report on an alternative plan with Tram flyover!

Image

Alternative plan for Edinburgh's Sheriffhall roundabout could halve cost of planned revamp
A TRAFFIC engineer has proposed an alternative scheme for the Sheriffhall roundabout complete with a flyover for trams at half the current estimated £120 million cost.

The “hamburger” design would route traffic on the City Bypass straight through the roundabout but with traffic signals and an enlarged circulating roundabout for other traffic.

The current plans for revamping the roundabout, which frequently sees long hold-ups, involves a road flyover for bypass traffic. But the project is now being reviewed as part of the Scottish Government’s budget deal with the Greens, who have branded the proposals a “spaghetti junction”.

Paul Penman, a chartered traffic engineer with over 30 years experience, said he had undertaken traffic assessment work on the intersection around 2005/06 as part of the Shawfair development masterplan.

And he said traffic modelling at the time suggested the hamburger style junction would cope with projected traffic flows, cutting traffic queues and travel time and costing £30-£40m. But he said that type of design had not been considered when latest proposals were drawn up.

Now he has written to Transport Secretary Michael Matheson, urging him to look at it.

He said: “This option, if developed and found to be feasible, would save £50m to £60m compared to the solution as currently promoted.”

And he said the capacity required at the roundabout would not have changed dramatically. “The assessment that was done took into account the full Shawfair development and we’re nowhere near that.”

The city council has said it wants the roundabout revamp to include space for a tramline going out to Dalkeith.

Mr Penman said the £60m cost estimate for the hamburger design would not include a tram overpass but a tram flyover would be cheaper than a road flyover, perhaps around £10m.

A Transport Scotland spokesman said Mr Matheson had only recently received the alternative proposal and would reply in due course.

“The new flyover arrangement will separate local traffic, including public transport, from the strategic traffic on the bypass and will allow the traffic on the bypass to flow freely at this location, improving road safety and journey times for all users.

“In addition the proposed new active travel facilities will provide cyclists and pedestrians with their own safer dedicated alternative routes, removing the barrier and transforming the way they cross the A720 City Bypass.

“Significant consultation has taken place with active travel stakeholders over our extensive active travel proposals for the scheme which total two miles of new pedestrian and cycle paths. The scheme will also encourage uptake of bus rather than car travel through improved links to adjacent Park and Ride facilities and reduce bus journey times following re-design of the junction with approximately 75 per cent of strategic traffic removed from the roundabout.”

The council said it looked forward to engaging with Transport Scotland to explore solutions to concerns around the proposed design.
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by fras »

What tram route is this ? I would have thought they've got quite enough to get on with already.
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

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fras wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 17:12 What tram route is this ? I would have thought they've got quite enough to get on with already.
The one proposed to go out by RIE and in into Musselburgh, Line 3
Whether it or a variation will ever happen. :shrug:
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jackal
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by jackal »

Blow the budget on a hypothetical tramline, while the bypass mainline gets two signalised lanes? Peak Edinburgh transport planning.
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Halmyre
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by Halmyre »

Nwallace wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 20:42
fras wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 17:12 What tram route is this ? I would have thought they've got quite enough to get on with already.
The one proposed to go out by RIE and in into Musselburgh, Line 3
Whether it or a variation will ever happen. :shrug:
That's some detour to go from Edinburgh to Musselburgh via Dalkeith. Irrespective of that, you could of course divert the tram slightly west and cross the A720 at the A772 junction and cause less disruption than shoehorning a tram flyover into the existing proposals.
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Gav
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by Gav »

The delay is due to Corona I believe. The tram proposal was dumped, Hamburger roundabouts don't work in high traffic situations like this. The overpass will be built, just now its get the corona virus sorted.
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by Phil »

jackal wrote: Thu Apr 16, 2020 09:58 Blow the budget on a hypothetical tramline, while the bypass mainline gets two signalised lanes? Peak Edinburgh transport planning.
Its called Politics in action!

As has been noted, the SNP has been cosying up to the Green party so as to stay in power.

The Green party reject ALL ROAD BUILDING and have demanded the SNP go along with this as the price of their co-operation.

Hence the apparent rethink over a GSJ* at Sheriffhall - and the suggestion of other measures which will not increase the amount of traffic the junction can handle (just organises the queues a bit better / stop lorries blocking exits, etc).

*It has to be admitted that putting a flyover in will significantly increase the capacity for A720 to A720 movements and thus have the potential to increase traffic volumes overall.

The fact that the Edinburgh by-pass is there to facilitate long distance traffic (much of which is unsuited to modal shift) rather than commuting into Edinburgh itself (and where modal shift is far easier to achieve) has, as usual, cut no ice with the Greens who (outside of urban areas) really haven't got a clue about how transport works.

The emergence of a tram flyover is a result of the aforementioned Politics - any extension of the tram towards sheriffhall has most definitely fallen into the 'maybe one day' category with zero serious efforts made thus far to 'Safeguard' the route (a good indicator of how serious any transport proposal may considered to be)
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jackal
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by jackal »

^ To be fair the tram flyover+hamburger is just a crayonista fantasy sent to the local paper. Hopefully the review won't come up with anything so crazy.
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by orudge »

Plans approved by council leaders

The article suggests a public inquiry next year, but no construction until 2025 (completion 2027), which seems a very long time away!
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Bryn666
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by Bryn666 »

Definitely a junction that needs resolving. Pity the A1 junction is built the wrong way around and funnels everyone in Edinburgh still.

What is it with Scottish bypasses being unable to just be normal functional roads?
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Re: Sheriffhall Roundabout

Post by Chris5156 »

Bryn666 wrote: Sat Sep 04, 2021 20:53Definitely a junction that needs resolving. Pity the A1 junction is built the wrong way around and funnels everyone in Edinburgh still.

What is it with Scottish bypasses being unable to just be normal functional roads?
It was Robert the Bruce who first set out, in the Declaration of Broxden, that all Scottish bypasses would have at least one roundabout in a completely daft place to break up the flow of traffic. The tradition still holds today.
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