S'pore's Orchard Road junction to become Tokyo's Shibuya Crossing on weekends and PH for 6 weeks from mid-Dec

Don't need to fly to Japan.

Joshua Lee | November 25, 2017, 02:56 PM

If you're a fan of the frenetic energy of one of the most famous traffic junctions in the world - the Shibuya Crossing - you might be pleased to know that that junction crossing style, called a scramble crossing, will be trialled in Singapore come December.

SHIBUYA, TOKYO, KANTO REGION, HONSHU ISLAND, JAPAN - 2017/03/05: Shibuya crossing. (Photo by Raquel Maria Carbonell Pagola/LightRocket via Getty Images)

As opposed to the uni-directional traffic crossing we're used to, a scramble crossing enables pedestrians from all four corners of a T-junction to cross the roads simultaneously, in any direction.

While this makes Orchard Road more pedestrian friendly, it is definitely not good news for drivers as there will be less time allocated for vehicles to cross, causing traffic congestion.

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According to The Straits Times, chairman of the Orchard Road Business Association (Orba) Mark Shaw made the announcement at a press conference at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza on Friday (Nov 24).

It will be the second time that such a scramble walk will be trialled at the shopping district. A previous six-month trial took place at the Bideford Road-Orchard Road junction in Dec 2006.

This trial comes at a time when Orchard Road is attempting to revive itself amidst plunging sales and visitor numbers.

In addition to this scramble crossing trial, Orchard Road is gearing up for Christmas with a Christmas Village outside Ngee Ann City and Christmas song dedications blasting festive songs along the shopping belt.

The scramble crossing will be trialled at the junction of Cairnhill Road and Orchard Road - bounded by Heeren, Cineleisure, and Orchard Building, for a period of 30 seconds in each instance.

Via Google Maps.

The trial will be on on all weekends and public holidays from Dec 16 to Jan 28, 2018, giving you Japanophiles 16 days to live your Shibuya crossing dreams. 

 

Top image by Joshua Lee.