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| Atkins scheme heralded as a "triumph of British engineering" A new diagonal crossing was officially launched this week at London's Oxford Circus - a scheme designed by Atkins which will help make the area more attractive and reduce pedestrian congestion. The scheme was delivered by a multidisciplinary Atkins team, incorporating pedestrian modelling, traffic modelling and streetscape design. Opening the crossing, Mayor of London Boris Johnson hailed it as a "triumph of British engineering". With 43,000 people and 2,000 vehicles travelling through the junction every hour, Oxford Circus is the busiest shopping district in Europe, so Atkins' challenge was to develop a design which meets the needs of all users, frees up space and re-establishes order out of the chaos. The new crossing enables pedestrians to follow "desire lines" and get directly to the side of the Circus they want to - rather than having to cross twice to get to their destination. In homage to its Japanese, Shibuya inspiration, Mayor Boris Johnson struck a two-metre high cymbal to declare the scheme open, while Japanese Manga characters unfurled a giant 60m "X" of red ribbon. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Construction News :: home page |