What will a pedestrianised Oxford Street mean for transport?
Source: The Guardian ·
A stretch of Britain’s most famous shopping street is to be vehicle-free as part of £150m government-backed schemeMuch of Britain’s most famous shopping street will be closed to traffic from Monday as the long-awaited pedestrianisation of London’s Oxford Street begins.About half of the 1.2 mile street will initially be vehicle-free, after decades of planning and dispute over how to best use the…
From the source
Much of Britain’s most famous shopping street will be closed to traffic from Monday as the long-awaited pedestrianisation of London’s Oxford Street begins. About half of the 1.2 mile street will initially be vehicle-free, after decades of planning and dispute over how to best use the street, an important transport thoroughfare and the home for flagship stores for big shopping chains. Private cars have been barred for years but now all motorised traffic, including buses and black cabs, as well as bicycles, will be kept away. For the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, who has targeted the switch as part of clean air plans throughout his tenure, it is a political victory, aided by the backing of central government to override local council objections. While towns and cities around the UK have long pedestrianised their centres, the location, scale and notoriety of Oxford Street, attracting millions of foreign visitors each year, will make the £150m scheme’s outcome of interest to city planners…