Diagonal Crossings: Oxford Circus vs Balham
Diagonal Crossing at Oxford Circus
I’m sure you’re aware of the £5million two-year redevelopment of Oxford Circus / Regent Street junction. This is renowned as the worst place to be in the whole of London. Not a moment passes when there aren’t pedestrians standing around doing their level best to obstruct, an angry motorist beeping a horn at a wandering walker, or a militant cyclist cursing and gesticulating wildly at ambling tourists. In short it’s a nightmare. There are many solutions to the problem, the most obvious being making Oxford Circus station exit-only at all times. There are loads of buses and plenty of other tube stations within five minutes walk.
The Diagonal Crossing at Shibuya Junction, Tokyo
Yet in their wisdom, Westminster council have decided to make a diagonal crossing across the junction. There is now a 30 second free for all where pedestrians can scramble from one side to the other without being in any danger of being run-over by a car. The redesign has also included the removal of a lot of the ’street clutter’ around the junction including many of the barriers. The idea being that it will encourage pedestrians, cyclists and motorists to be more responsbile and to act more intelligently.
The junction was launched with a mighty bang of a giant gong by Mayor Johnson, this was due to the design being inspired by the Shibuya junction in Tokyo. So far it seems to be enjoying some success and popularity. People are a little concerned about the shortness of the time and the length of distance (25 meters in 30 seconds) and last-gasp runs seem to be as popular as ever. Amusingly, there is often confusion as to which pedestrian stream has right of way in the middle of the diagonal, there are suggestions that a system of mid-street traffic lights could clear up the confusion.
Importantly, although this is obviously a nice design solution. It is far from groundbreaking and as has been documented by James Cousins, it is nothing new in the UK. The leafly southern suburb of Balham (also known as the Gateway to the South) has had a diagonal pedestrian crossing for around five years. In fact, yours truly regularly comments on it when visitors come to Balham.
Balham diagonal crossing has long been a favourite feature of the town to me, along with the giant cow outside the steak restuarant and the As Nature Intended supermarket. I’m glad to see that Westminster town planners are finally giving Balham the recognition it deserves, or not.
