 Oxford Circus, London
Oxford Circus at dusk
Author: Marc Lacoste (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)
Oxford Circus, despite its name, is not a roundabout, but an intersection in the City of Westminster, in London. It is where Oxford Street intersects with Regent Street, as is one of the most busy pedestrian crossings in the city.
Judging from the appearance of the buildings around it, which were designed by famous 19th century architect John Nash, Oxford Circus was probably a roundabout that was later turned into a cross road.
In 2009, the Westminster City Council spent £5 million to turn it into a diagonal intersection, similar to that of Tokyo's Shibuya Crossing. What amazed many was the amount spent when a similar crossing cost only £98,000 in Balham, South London. While the idea was to improve pedestrianisation traffic, it escaped the city planners to move the traffic underground. I personally fail to see what's so special about the new diagonal intersection to warrant spending £5 million.
Location map of Oxford Circus
Click here to view the Google Map to Oxford Circus.
Oxford Circus diagonal crossing, Nov 2009
Author: Mike Roberts (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)
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