Editing Charing Cross Road (section)

== History ==

Charing Cross road was originally{{Clarify timeframe|date=May 2022}} two narrow streets in the West End, Crown Street and Castle Street. The development of [[Regent Street]] (parallel to the west) in the mid-18th century coincided with not only the building up of great fields west of the area but also [[Westminster Bridge]] which was built as central London and the wider estuary's second bridge after more than a century of pressure, in 1750.

These pressures therefore congested the north–south axis of the inner West End almost as much as the relieved London Bridge area.  Specifically a major increase in traffic occurred{{When|date=May 2022}} around [[Piccadilly Circus]], [[Charing Cross]] and Oxford Street, much of it destined from/to [[Tottenham Court Road]], [[Bloomsbury]] and nearby routes to all northerly directions.

Charing Cross Road was therefore developed, in conjunction with [[Shaftesbury Avenue]], by the [[Metropolitan Board of Works]] under an 1877 [[Act of Parliament]].{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=149}} The Act's total costs, including demolition and rebuilding of many rows of buildings across London was £778,238. The two streets and others such as the [[Thames Embankment]], [[Northumberland Avenue]] and the [[Kingsway (London)|Kingsway]]-[[Aldwych]] superstructure were built{{When|date=May 2022}} to improve traffic flow through central London.<ref>{{cite book|title=[[The Buildings of England]]|volume=6: Westminster|year=2003|first1=Simon|last1=Bradley|first2=Nikolaus|last2=Pevsner|page=401|isbn=0-300-09595-3}}</ref> The scheme abolished some of the worst slums in London which delayed progress in construction while the inhabitants were rehoused.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=149}}