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A huge stretch of Oxford Street is to be shut for almost a year. The section between Newham Street and Tottenham Court Road will be closed to east-bound traffic for work to begin on Crossrail.
Transport for London said the closure was to allow water and gas pipes and sewage drains under Oxford Street to be replaced or strengthened.
Retailers are furious, anticipating massive congestion in surrounding roads that will hit business.
A Crossrail station will be built at Tottenham Court Road and experts have discovered preparatory work is far more extensive than first thought.
The pipes - some of which are Georgian - could be damaged by the building of new escalators and underground passages.
TfL says it was until recently unaware of the need for the essential work and it has been scheduled to avoid the key Christmas and New Year sales period to minimise the effect on local shops.
The £16 billion Crossrail scheme passes through Heathrow and central London and connects Maidenhead in Berkshire with Shenfield in Essex.
Reader views (3)
Excellent news. As the previous poster says, Oxford Street needs to be completely pedestrianised. I can't see that retailers would be "furious" about this, I for 1 never shop on Oxford Street precisely because it is a fume filled canyon with gridlocked traffic and pavements which you can barely get along because they are so crowded.
- Mcw, London, 10/06/2009 09:32
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Wait until they discover some archeological site 
- Zefrog, London, 09/06/2009 21:48
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Great news! Oxford Street is a much nicer environment without traffic. Now if they could only make the closure permanent...
- John, London, 09/06/2009 13:08
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