Queen Street to be pedestrianised
Oxford City Council is planning to pedestrianise Queen Street as part of a long-term programme to remove traffic from the town centre - in an effort to improve air quality.
The proposal follows on from the pedestrianisation of Cornmarket, which was closed to all traffic in 1999. The new scheme would gradually phase out buses on Queen Street and relocate many bus stops to a redeveloped Westgate area.
The decision to act now comes as a result of the forthcoming redevelopment, which councillors expect to attract more shoppers and consequently more traffic.
87 buses an hour currently pass through Queen Street, many of which use it as their main boarding point. Authorities fear that if the number of Park and Ride buses is growing in line with the increased volume of shoppers, Queen Street will soon become completely blocked by traffic.
The Council also believes that it would be very difficult to relocate bus stops to St Aldate's, as it would be unable to cope with higher levels of traffic. In order to ensure minimum disturbance, councillors plan to redirect most buses to the Westgate area. However, Councillor Noel Newson, who heads the project, admits that the space for this does not exist at present, telling The Oxford Student, "Other measures would be needed if we wanted to remove all buses from Queen Street. Without appropriate alternative facilities we are likely to create congestion and air quality problems."
The council now faces the dilemma of where to put the displaced bus stops.
3rd Feb 2005