New £25m Exhibition Road
Plans have been released of Exhibition Road as you've never seen it before - packed with pedestrians with scarcely a car in sight.
It is how the boulevard, home to the Science Museum, Imperial College and the Goethe Institut, will look after a radical £25 million revamp, unveiled today.
Instead of having free run of a dual carriageway, drivers will be restricted to 20mph and channelled into two lanes.
Parking bays will be swept away (extra residents' parking is promised nearby) and the kerb will disappear, replaced by one attractive surface for pedestrians and vehicles.
The 10 million pedestrians using the road each year will be encouraged to cross where they like: hundreds of yards of railings will be removed.
Work, starting next year, is due to be completed in 2009. "We aim to create one of the finest streetscapes in London," said project leader Bill Mount, of Kensington and Chelsea council.
Key components of the plan include:
- Improving the underpass linking the area to South Kensington Tube.
- Installing solar-powered catseyes to mark out the road instead of white lines.
- Erecting "modern classic'" lighting colonnades along the centre of the road.
- Banning vehicles from turning on to and from Cromwell Road, to improve pedestrian flow.
- Abolishing the one-way system in front of the Tube.
- Improving disabled access.
The scheme, intended to help underpin London's bid for the 2012 Olympics, is being designed by Dixon Jones, best known for its work on the refurbishment of the Royal Opera House, the transformation of Somerset House and the development of the National Portrait Gallery.
It is a joint project with Transport for London and Westminster council. Project leaders are still meeting government departments and the Heritage Lottery Fund to finalise funding.
