Does Edinburgh have a traffic problem?
Chris Dunlop (extracts)
3. INTRODUCTION
4. MAP OF EDINBURGH: CITY CENTRE
5. MAP OF EDINBURGH: BYPASS
6. HYPOTHESIS & STUDY QUESTIONS 7 & 8 METHODOLOGY
9. TRAFFIC COUNT: EXAMPLE
10. TRAFFIC COUNT: RESULTS- CITY CENTRE
TRAFFIC COUNT: RESULTS- ARTERIAL ROUTES
12. QUESTIONNAIRE
13 & 14. DO CARS HAVE TO TRAVEL SLOWLY WHEN ENTERING EDINBUPGH BECAUSE OF CONGESTION'.?
15. HAVE TRAFFIC SCHEMES IN EDINBURGH WORKED?
16 -18. WHERE ARE THE MAIN AREAS OF CONGESTION IN THE CITY?
19 & 20. IS THE USE OF BICYCLES A REALISTIC SOLUTION TO A POTENTIAL TRAFFIC PROBLEM?
21- 23. IS PUBLIC TPANSPORT USED TO ITS POTENTIAL OR. ARE PEOPLE STILL PREFERING TO USE THEIR CARS?
24 & 25. DO MOST PEOPLE THAT TRAVEL INTO EDINBURGH, BY CAR, TRAVEL ALONE OR ARE THERE USUALLY MORE THAN ONE PERSON IN EACH CAR,?
26 & 27. CONCLUSIONS
28. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hypothesis
My hypothesis is the simple statement "Edinburgh has a traffic problem". This project will hopefully prove this and show the extent of the troubles. To prove my hypothesis true I have decided to break the project up into small sections that will look closely at different aspects of the problem. Each of these sections shall betitled by a question called "study questions".
Study Questions
1 . Do cars have to travel slowly, when entering Edinburgh due to congestion'.?
2. Have traffic schemes in Edinburgh been a success?
3. Where are the main areas of congestion in the city'.?
4. Is the use of more bicycles a realistic solution to a potential. traffic problem?
5. Is public transport used to its potential or are people still preferring to use their cars?
6. Do most people that travel into Edinburgh, by car, travel alone or are there usually more than one person in each car?
Methodology
The main areas in the investigation into whether or not Edinburgh has a traffic problem are congestion, pollution and views of the public into the matter. All three of these areas will have to be researched and looked at closely, the development of the city centre is a key factor in this study and looking into this is very important.
Car ownership is growing every year and this causes more congestion on the streets. Congestion is a serious problem because it affects the environment, it impacts on road safety, it causes difficulty when accessing the city and as a result business suffers.
To find if congestion is a problem in the Edinburgh I intend on working out the saturation index of the roads that are being studied. The saturation index can only be calculated, however, if a traffic survey has been taken in all the roads. Due to this a traffic survey will be taken at all the points necessary. The group that 1 shall be working with will take four surveys lasting ten minutes at Charlotte Square and a survey at various points on the Western Approach. This is to find an average for every ten minutes, and from this I can work out the amount of vehicles per hour in each category of the survey. Traffic saturation can only be found if the number of vehicles is for every hour, which makes this method very convenient. The categories for my survey shall be: Cars with more than 1 person, cars with only 1 person, vans or taxis, busses, lorries and bicycles or motorbikes.
Studying pollution cannot be exact unless particularly good equipment is available. This is why rather primitive methods will be used to measure this area of study. To measure noise pollution in the city centre, which I know is mainly caused by traffic, we will try to conununicate across the road. This means that we cannot be particularly exact. Pollution, such as dirt and dust, can be found on almost every surface around the streets of Edinburgh. To measure this we shall do a "tissue test" which simply includes whipping a tissue along a surface. If the tissue is particularly dirty, then obviously, the pollution level is particularly bad, however if the tissue is only slightly dirty or free of visible dirt then pollution levels are low.
In order to gain information from the public we, as a group, have drawn up questionnaires which ask about how people travelled into the city centre, how long it took, and whether or not they feel that there is a traffic problem in Edinburgh. We felt that these questions would tell us a great deal of information into whether or not Edinburgh has a traffic problem. it is important that we know the ways in which people prefer to travel into the city centre, it is useful to know how long these journeys too and the
publics views into Edinburgh's potential traffic problem is a very helpful source for information. This part of the study should hopefully provide some interesting and useful information and tell us if people in Edinburgh are happy with the transport facilities in the city.
A large amount of information is available from sources such as the interact, newspapers, and traffic counts from the past, this kind of information is secondary but does provide helpful information. These pieces of information should also show whether or not Edinburgh is getting better or worse.
To finish we shall also be taking numerous photographs of the streets in Edinburgh. These will provide physical evidence of a traffic problem, if there is one, and they will also show where it is. We will make many observations on field day to help us analyse whether or not there is a traffic problem. These observations could be anything, such as a traffic iron in a main road or maybe even road works that have been going on and have resulted in a tailback of traffic.
Examples of the tally charts used for the traffic count can be found further on (Fig. 1.0). The traffic count results are also available here (Fig. 1. 1 and Fig. 1.2). Finally an example of the questionnaires that were used can also be found (Fig. 1.3).
Edinburgh's Traffic Problem: Questionnaire
1. Did you travel into the city centre by car today? YES / NO
2. Where have you travelled from today?
3. How long did it take you?
4. Do you think there is a traffic problem in Edinburgh? YES / NO
5. If so, where do you notice it?
6. Do you have a problem with parking? YES / NO
7. Do you think traffic schemes in Edinburgh work? YES /NO
8. If public transport were better would you use it? YES / NO
9. If it were FREE would you use it? YES / NO
Do cars have to travel slowly when entering Edinburgh because of congestion?
Congestion causes many problems to road users; however, the most obvious one is that it slows town anybody that is travelling between two places. This part of my investigation should help us find out if congestion is causing a problem in Edinburgh which could result in more pollution, loss of business, and the tourist industry failing.
Average speed = Distance / Time
From the questionnaires we know how long it took each person to travel into the city centre. We also know where they travelled from. I calculated the distance that each person travelled by simply measuring, on a map, from the city centre to his or her origin of travel. I then multiplied this number by the scale on the map and as a result I had an approximate distance in miles for each persons travel. I used 15 of my surveys for this information.
| Origin of travel | Distance (Miles) | Time (Minutes) | Average Speed (miles/minute) | Average Speed (mph) |
| Murrayfield | 2.0 | 15.0 | 0.13 | 8.0 |
| Abernethy | 12.0 | 60.0 | 0.02 | 12.0 |
| Balerno | 7.0 | 40.0 | 0.18 | 10.5 |
| Trinity | 2.0 | 20.0 | 0.1 | 6.0 |
| Craiglockhart | 2.5 | 15.0 | 0.17 | 10.0 |
| Gorgie | 2.0 | 10.0 | 0.2 | 12.0 |
| Currie | 6.0 | 30.0 | 0.2 | 12.0 |
| Leith | 2.0 | 15.0 | 0.13 | 8.0 |
| Craigleith | 1.5 | 10.0 | 0.15 | 9.0 |
| Barnton | 4.0 | 40.0 | 0.1 | 6.0 |
| Colinton | 3.5 | 15.0 | 0.23 | 14.0 |
| Dalkieth | 5.5 | 30.0 | 0.18 | 11.0 |
| Meggatland | 3.5 | 20.0 | 0.18 | 10.5 |
| lnverleith | 2.0 | 15.0 | 0.13 | 8.0 |
Analysis
These results tell us a large amount about travelling into the city centre. From the table we are told that travelling a mere
distance of 2 miles can take 20 minutes (in the case of the person travelling from Trinity) and this causes people to travel at a very low speed of 6 miles per hour.- What is even more interesting though was that the highest average speed that was calculated for a journey was as little as 14 miles per hour, that is slower than the average marathon runner.
The results were so small because of congestion on Ed'mburgh's roads. Travelling to the city centre should not take as long as it
does and therefore this aids my hypothesis that Edinburgh has a traffic problem. It is important, however, that we remember that the speeds that were calculated were averages for a whole journey and not the highest speed for a car travelling into the city centre.
Have traffic schemes in Edinburgh been a success?
Greenways, one way systems and restricted parking have all been introduced to Edinburgh's city centre in an attempt to cut down the level of congestion in the city. This area of my study will look into whether or not this attempt has been a success or if it has just kept congestion levels where they were originally.
The public were asked there opinions on whether or not they felt the traffic schemes had worked. The results have been split up into car drivers and those who use other forms of transport.
car drivers opinion  |
other forms of transport  |
Analysis
These charts show that the traffic schemes have, on a whole, been a success. This is because the intention of the greenways and other schemes was to improve public transport and make the car drivers life harder so that they would feel obliged to give up there car and use other forms of transport. If car drivers are finding travelling harder, which seems to be the case with 83% of cars drivers that were questioned, then the idea has been a success. The saturation index told us that Princes Street is no longer congested and this is an example of an area where traffic schemes have been a success. Travelling east along Princes Street is impossible unless by public transport, and this has cut down the amount of vehicles on the road immensely.
This part of my study has shown that the traffic schemes have been a success in trying to deter car users. Unfortunately those who still drive are not satisfied which means that there must still be a large amount of congestion on the roads. This goes against my hypothesis because it shows that the traffic problems are being solved and are improving, but they also show that the problem is there and this aids my hypothesis.
Where are the main areas of congestion in the city?
Although the photograph (right) may make you think otherwise, the data we gathered tells us that Charlotte Square is congested.
Congestion was one of the original problems that Edinburgh faced before any traffic schemes were introduced. The areas that are still affected will be shown in this part of the project and the areas that are no longer congested shall also be shown.
To work out which areas are congested the saturation index of all the studied roads will be worked out. The saturation index is a way to measure the extent of congestion on roads. Every road size, such as Dual Carriageway, has a specified recommended maximum number which is called its "maximum saturation level". Each vehicle is judged on its size and therefore its ability to cause congestion (i.e. Cars =2, Bikes =1, Busses =6), if the calculated number for vehicles on the road exceeds the maximum saturation level then the road is congested.
The results from working out traffic saturation are shown on the map above.
The questionnaire also asked the public where they noticed the traffic problem. in Edinburgh. The following table shows the roads that were stated by the public the most.
| Area or Street Mentioned | Times mentioned |
| High Street | 2 |
| West End | 4 |
| George Street | 2 |
| Main Access Routes | 2 |
| Princes Street | 2 |
Analysis
The saturation index showed that George Street, Queen Street, Corstorphine Road, The Mound, Charlotte Square and the High Street are all badly congested roads. The roads which did not reach their recommended saturation index, but were not considerably far away from it, included Queensferry Road, the Western Approach and Liberton Road. Princes Street, Leith Walk and Momingside Road all had a saturation that was well below the maximum and appeared to be the lesser-congested roads.
From the information, which we gathered from the public, we are told that the West End is considered a very bad area for traffic and this includes road such as Corstorphine Road and Charlotte Square. This means that in general the public gave the same answers as that gained from the calculation of traffic saturation.
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