Ellersly Road Safety Improvements

A petition by Murrayfield Community Council and residents of Ellersly/Kinellan has been submitted to the Transport and Environment Committee of the City of Edinburgh Council, and was covered by The Edinburgh Reporter.

The petition has 121 signatures of local residents who, for 10 years, have been seeking safety improvements for walkers and wheelers on heavily-trafficked Ellersly Road. Some of these measures have been promised since 2021. In 2021 traffic data confirmed that both Kinellan Road, a popular high-speed rat-run, and Ellersly Road meet criteria for traffic calming. The 20mph speed limit is not enforced and is respected by only a small minority of drivers. Since 2022 traffic volume has visibly increased still further. Footways, particularly on the north side of Ellersly Road, are very narrow and abut high stone walls, leaving little separation between footway users and traffic speeding close to the kerb.

The petition seeks:

1. As the highest and most immediate priority, to implement traffic calming, promised since 2021, on both Ellersly and Kinellan Roads;

2. To take advantage of carriageway resurfacing scheduled in 2024 to widen the footway on the north side of Ellersly Road from Belmont Drive to Murrayfield Road; and

3. To develop a firm plan for a pedestrian crossing at the east end of Ellersly Road (“Benjamin’s crossing”).

Image credit: (c) E Forbes, The Edinburgh Reporter