September 18 2019

Glasgow City Council has officially inaugurated the first of a planned network of ‘Avenues’ which will ultimately bisect the city as part of a £115m public realm initiative.
 
Billed as the largest streetscape enhancement project in the UK the scheme includes widened pavements for pedestrians and outdoor café’s; a two-lane cycle path; 27 deciduous trees; upgraded bus shelters, lighting and seating and ‘smart’ surface water management infrastructure.
 
As part of the improvement programme, step-free junction upgrades and repaving of streets to the south of Sauchiehall Street between Elmbank and Douglas Street was also carried out.
 
Key to the new layout is the relocation of street furniture to a central reservation, made possible by repurposing part of the previous carriageway as a shared pedestrian and cycle space.
 
Councillor Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council commented: "We've created a physical environment which will be the catalyst for social and economic benefits, improving Sauchiehall Street's overall look and feel and helping it adapt to the changes affecting high streets everywhere. It's now a street where pedestrians, cyclists and vulnerable road users are prioritised over the car, a safer, cleaner, more vibrant space which is attractive to both visitors and investors."
 
Upon completion, the Avenues programme will revamp 17 key streets and adjoining areas throughout Glasgow city centre with the aim of discouraging vehicle traffic.

7 Comments

#1 Posted by Bravefart on 18 Sep 2019 at 15:19 PM

Huge improvement. I cycled this the other day and my only gripe is that the junctions to side streets should have more aggressively ramped kerbs as per those found in the Netherlands. This forces motorists (particularly black cabs) to slow down and give way to pedestrians and cyclists as they should (and as is delineated by the continuous cycle/foot ways). Ah well - it's still a massive betterment and one I cannot wait to see rolled out in other areas of the city (can we have this for Dumbarton Road, please?!).

#2 Posted by EM0 on 18 Sep 2019 at 15:47 PM

Great scheme, however original plans had trees all the way to the end and trees and benches on the corners of streets that meet Sauchiehall. These would have been a nice extra, particularly to have the trees continue all the way to the end for the eye line.

#3 Posted by Ewan Anderson, 7N Architects on 18 Sep 2019 at 15:50 PM

It's actually quite staggering to see this built and making a difference only 6 years after us working up the Avenues concept with GCC on the City Centre Strategy. GCC should be applauded for sticking their necks out. Fantastic to see it.

#4 Posted by Graeme McCormick on 18 Sep 2019 at 19:12 PM

Agreed it's a big improvement but why doesn't the council invest in semi mature trees in big containers in all the city centre streets? It would hide some awful eyesores and improve the environment without damaging utilty services. It would also let the council spend more time developing and implimenting more radical public realm improvements over a larger area.

#5 Posted by Sir Ano on 19 Sep 2019 at 15:26 PM

Is it really that much of an improvement, I don't see it

#6 Posted by Chris on 19 Sep 2019 at 15:57 PM

#5 the charing x end (where those photos are taken) isn't great as for some inexplicable reason they stopped the trees a few blocks away from it. The section further down is a massive improvement on what was there before

#7 Posted by Snack attack on 27 Sep 2019 at 11:22 AM

I believe the Charing X end of sauchiehall st is treeless due to a gas or water main that either couldn’t be moved or was too expensive to move, so the trees there were dropped.

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