Plan to ban through Traffic

THROUGH traffic from one side of Covent Garden to the other would be banned under a radical new area road scheme at present before Westminster City and Camden Councils.

The plan would be to reduce the impact caused by the heavy use cars and lorries make of Covent Garden and also improve and make safer its pedestrian facilities. At the same time, if the whole plan was implemented, reasonable access for residents and service vehicles would be maintained.

Main proposals of the plan include:
• removing through traffic from Seven Dials by reversing the existing southbound route in Upper St. Martin's Lane between Great Newport Street and Tower Street, and forcing all vehicles coming out from Shelton Street there to turn right. This would mean all traffic, including that moving southwards from Monmouth Street, would flow into Tower Street and then into Shaftesbury Avenue;
• reversing the current traffic flows along the whole of Shorts Gardens and parts of Shelton Street and Tavistock Street;
• a diagonal closure implemented at the junction of Long Acre, Bow Street and Endell Street, which would force all traffic moving westwards in Long Acre to turn left into a two-way Bow Street. This would sever the popular current east-west route to through traffic.
• another diagonal closure at the junction of Drury Lane, Long Acre and Great Queen Street and two-way working introduced. This would result in severing the current south-north route along Drury Lane.
• two-way working would also be introduced along the south section of Drury Lane and the east section of Long Acre. The overall effect of these two diagonal closures would force all traffic, including that for the newly refurbished Opera House, to enter and leave the area through Aldwych.

The scheme was drawn up for the two councils by The Project Centre. Their report states that if all their proposals were introduced there would still be some through routes in Covent Garden but traffic would not be allowed to cross the area completely.

The measures would also impact favourably on any plans Westminster are considering over pedestrianising Cranbourn Street.

 

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