WS Atkins - General - London, Oxford Circus

Date: 17 Jul 2008

A new vision for Oxford Circus that would allow shoppers to cross diagonally could almost double free pavement space and radically cut pedestrian congestion.

These were the findings from a project team at Atkins, the UK's biggest design & engineering consultancy, which has been refining the idea as part of a wider strategy for London's West End.

The Crown Estate and Westminster City Council, in partnership with Transport for London (TfL), and the New West End Company, wanted to tackle the pedestrian congestion snarling up the area and were prepared to be quite radical. The diagonal crossing plan seemed ideal as it was already working in Japan at the Shibuya 'scramble' crossing.

Atkins' project manager, Chris Greenwood said: "The client group and design team didn't restrict themselves to what was already commonplace in the UK and remained open to more radical solutions. The Japanese had made this work at one of their most congested intersections and that got us thinking. The idea of allowing a mass pedestrian crossing really appealed as a way of making the connections rather than forcing people to take the long way round."

The scheme also delivers around two thirds more 'walkable' pavement area through a combination of widening existing pavements and removing the layers of accumulated street clutter, enhancing capacity throughout the day and evening.

Westminster Councillor Danny Chalkley, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, commented: "These proposals will bring a slice of Tokyo to Oxford Circus, and are part of a whole series of improvements already taking place to ensure the West End looks truly impressive in time for 2012."

If the plan was adopted, you would see all the traffic lights turning to red at the same time. Then pedestrians would cross on the new diagonal routes as well as the relocated existing ones.

Proposed plan for Oxford Circus

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