Safety Wins: Residents Choose New Polwarth Junction Design, Construction to Begin Within 18 Months

We want to give you an update on what has happened since the Polwarth Junction redesign consultation closed back in September. If you haven’t already seen the proposed designs, you can do so at our project webpage.

First, we want to thank everyone who took the time to respond to the consultation. We were hugely impressed by the number of thoughtful and constructive responses, and even more heartened by the high level of support for the changes proposed in the redesign. 144 organisations and households responded to the consultation and 111 of these supported Option 1.

Thanks to your support, we are delighted to share that Polwarth junction redesign will go ahead with Option 1 with Pedestrian Refuge. Construction is currently planned for late 2026/ early 2027. This will happen following an independent Road Safety Audit, the passage of the necessary Traffic Regulation Orders, and contractor tendering. It is excellent news that the place of this project in the Local Traffic Improvement Programme is assured!

We recently met the CEC Road Safety engineer in charge of this project to discuss consultation responses in the round. We thank CEC for their careful consideration of resident concerns and we summarise the key findings below.

Consultation Key Findings: strong support for redesign, but concerns in key areas

Consensus: There is wide community support for the overall redesign which is seen as a major improvement over current conditions; Option 1 with Pedestrian Refuge is strongly preferred. Of the 144 organisations and households which responded to the consultation, 111 supported Option 1 and 6 supported Option 2. (Eleven respondents opposed any change to the junction and 16 had no preference.)

Photo illustration showing a row of shops with a widened pavement in front, and a crossing point with pedestrian refuge half way across the street. The image illustrates a few people crossing the road at the crossing point and at another informal crossing point in the foreground. — Proposed design Option 1 for Granville terrace looking west. Click to enlarge.

The overwhelming community preference for Option 1 means that CEC officers do not need to refer the options back to the Transport & Environment Committee. The issue is settled.

Critical gap: The east/west crossing at north end of Merchiston Avenue is viewed by respondents as a significant safety blind spot that could undermine the benefits of the overall scheme

Secondary concerns: Traffic speed and volume management needs to extend beyond the junction itself to prevent unintended consequences of the new layout.

Supporting detail

Some positive themes emerged from the responses analysed by MDCC:

Strong consensus that the redesign addresses long-standing safety concerns
Appreciation for community council engagement and collaborative design process
Recognition that changes will benefit pedestrians, particularly vulnerable users
Support for prioritising people over vehicle speed/convenience.

Scope for further improvement

While warmly welcoming the overall design, many respondents felt there were points needing further improvement. These included:

Nearly one third of the responses copied to MDCC called for better provision for pedestrians at the north end of Merchiston Avenue, where many children cross on their way to & from school (Bruntsfield Primary and Boroughmuir High School)
Linked to this, nearly one quarter of the responses we have seen called for further action to restrict rat-running, voicing concern that the measures proposed by CEC (raised tables, junction pinching, pavement build-outs), though desirable and welcome, were insufficient to address cut-through traffic, especially HGVs.
Nearly 50% of responses made available to MDCC called for measures specifically to address speeding issues (especially on the east/west route – Granville Terrace and Polwarth Gardens) and to calm traffic further.

What is CEC’s response to these concerns?

CEC will soon update its project webpage to include formal responses to the key issues raised in the consultation. We know that CEC has responded individually to all consultation respondents.

Merchiston Avenue challenges: Regarding concerns at the north end of Merchiston Avenue, CEC maintain that their proposals – including a raised table, pavement build-outs, a substantially narrower carriageway, and improved signage – should make this junction feel much less risky for pedestrians. They also point to the fact that the PV² formula (used to identify the need for improved pedestrian crossings),does not indicate a significant level of risk at this location under current traffic conditions.

In light of the consultation responses, CEC has reviewed the options for this junction and modelled them for pedestrian safety. You can see from Figure 1 the impact of the proposed changes on sightlines. Under the new design, drivers would have better sightlines of pedestrians crossing near the mouth of the junction. Many respondents called for a zebra crossing. In response, CEC prepared a mockup (Figure 2), to show how it would look in practice. A zebra crossing would have to be set back from the junction which would in fact diminish sightlines, and also entail the loss of the second proposed disabled parking space.

Figure 1: The impact of proposed pavement widening to sightlines for drivers. The yellow figure represents where a crossing pedestrian would stand under the proposed new design. The blue figure shows where a crossing pedestrian stands under the current layout. Under the new design, drivers would have better sightlines of pedestrians when crossing near the mouth of the junction.

Figure 2: A mockup of zebra crossing at the north end of Merchiston Ave at Granville Terrace. Under this design, the zebra would have to be set back from the junction. Drivers turning onto Merchiston Ave from Granville Terrace would not have clear sightlines of a pedestrian waiting to cross at the zebra until they had already begun to turn. Installing a zebra crossing would also require the loss of the second proposed disabled parking space.

In response to community feedback, CEC have modified the design by further tightening the junction radius. Carriageway width will be reduced from 9 metres to 6 metres. In CEC’s view, this will add further pressure on vehicles to slow down as they enter the junction. They believe this will change driver behaviour and the assessment drivers make about their ability to negotiate the turn. They also propose to widen the north-south pedestrian refuge at the east end of the junction, to allow more space for those waiting half-way. This too may modify driver behaviour.

All of this will of course need to be monitored. We in MDCC continue to have concerns that, with the general increase in vehicle volume up and down Merchiston Avenue, drivers’ behaviour may not be significantly altered. This will definitely need to be assessed.

Also relevant is the Council’s new Pedestrian Crossing Assessment Framework, which is intended to take resident demand into account when determining locations for improved pedestrian crossings. This is good news and we hope it would strengthen the case for further improving this part of the junction at a later stage.

Rat-running is something that CEC takes seriously and is prepared to assess at an area level, rather than at the level of individual streets where changes can simply shunt problems elsewhere rather than creating an overall benefit. They are willing to consider the case for a strategic review of rat-running on north/south routes in this part of the city. This is especially pressing given the ongoing closure of Harrison Road and likely weight restrictions once the repaired bridge reopens. MDCC has already taken steps to engage with councillors (including the Chair of the Transport & Environment Committee) to find ways to address this. The use of rat-runs by heavier vehicles is a particular concern, affecting the Polwarth cut-through and other north/south routes. We will continue to press for restrictions on heavier HGVs using residential streets as short-cuts: the costs – in terms of noise, pollution, congestion, bad driver behaviour and loss of residential calm – are substantial and we will support residents in their bid for a strategic review of this issue across MDCC’s area.

MDCC will press for further speed assessment on all roads after the junction redesign is implemented. It has offered CEC some suggestions for slowing traffic down on approach to the new junction and is keen to discuss these. MDCC, through its links with community police officers in SW Division, will continue to press the case for speed checks on any roads where residents tell us that speed limits are being regularly flouted.