Improving Baker Streets environment, economic potential and overall safety
Baker Street, the world renowned destination in central London, is familiar to visitors of Madame Tussauds, the Sherlock Holmes museum, the Wallace Collection and London Business School, is a major public transport interchange, a retail, leisure and commercial district within its own right, and has a vibrant local community. Yet it is a busy, and at times very congested, major traffic corridor delivering tens of thousands of vehicles and pedestrians into the heart of London every day. Originally developed as a 1960s experiment to accommodate high levels of traffic, the one-way system between Baker Street and Gloucester Place, with wide streets and narrow footways, has been a blight on living, working and spending quality time in the area.
The proposed scheme, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2018, creates two way streets, widens footways and introduces new crossings to improve the pedestrian experience, reduces traffic dominance, improves bus connectivity, introduces new cycle facilities and provides the opportunity for considerable public realm enhancements. The scheme has been designed to deliver an overall air quality benefit in one of Europe’s most heavily polluted areas and is expected to improve road safety and deliver significant economic benefits.
NRP, working for City of Westminster (through FM Conway as service provider) and their partners Transport for London, the Portman Estate and Baker Street Quarter BID, has provided services including project management, traffic data collection, traffic engineering and road safety design, traffic modelling (TRANSYT, LinSig, VISSIM), scheme impact assessment and technical submissions to Transport for London Outcomes Delivery (Model Auditing Process and Traffic Signal Supplementary Report), cycle, bus and pedestrian infrastructure design, public consultation and business case development support.
