Crossings Continental

There is a new way to ask for a crossing. And there are better crossings to ask for.

RSG

7/12/20261 min read

Junction of Ellersly and Murrayfield Roads after improvement.
Junction of Ellersly and Murrayfield Roads after improvement.

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You can request a pedestrian crossing on the City Council's website here. But even the "uncontrolled crossings" they list are expensive and so are not built often enough.

Take, for example, the junction of Ellersly Road and Murrayfield Road (pictured). This has been narrowed to help pedestrians, but that has made little difference. There is a major north-south traffic artery from Saughton to areas north and east of Corstorphine Hill. The Ellersly Road / Murrayfield Road junction is the only junction on the route that continues to have no crossing and it is much used by schoolchildren. Despite a 10 year campaign and a recent set of upgrades (see our website here) there remains no crossing. In theory, cars should give way to pedestrians at junctions like this, whether they are turning into or out of them. But without any sign to say so, they don't. We think cheaper, "continental style" crossings (which have zebra-painted road surfaces but no beacon) should be adopted. This a major theme of our Road Safety Group's work.

[Image credit: H Ross 2026]