Exhibition Road Project
The Exhibition Road Project has been developed and funded by The Councils of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the City of Westminster in partnership with the Mayor of London.
The project focuses on:
- The Exhibition Road corridor and the pedestrian tunnel
- The wider South Kensington area bound by and including: Kensington Gore, Queen’s Gate and Cromwell Road
- The roads in South Kensington one-way system north of South Kensington Station (Cromwell Place, Thurloe Place and Thurloe Street)
Proposed benefits
The Exhibition Road Project was designed to upgrade the widely used urban environment in South Kensington and to improve access for all. By amending traffic flow, removing barriers and improving the balance between pedestrians and traffic, the proposals point to lower speeds on roads, encouraging greater safety. The project also includes high quality paving materials and street furniture, better lighting, tree planting and public art to make Exhibition Road a world-class streetscape. Below street-level, the project proposes improvement to the pedestrian tunnel, with the addition of travelators on both sides of Cromwell Road.
The project is aiming to improve pedestrian experience and increase safety for all road users. At the moment, Exhibition Road and Thurloe Street’s pavements are too narrow to accommodate the ten million people who visit the museums and cultural institutions every year. The project proposes to eliminate congestion points by increasing the amount of space for pedestrians through several means: the relocation of parking, the reduction of street clutter and better use of road space for traffic.
Local transport and parking
The proposals do not significantly change the total amount of residents’ parking in the area, although some relocation is proposed. Disabled parking will be retained and the number of disabled parking spaces may be increased in some parts of Exhibition Road. The project proposes to improve access to bus services from South Kensington Station by moving bus stops away from the entrance to the station arcade to a centralised location at the southern end of Cromwell Road.
For more information, please visit www.rbkc.gov.uk/exhibitionroad