Cowley Road, Oxford
Cowley Road is an arterial road in the city of Oxford, England, running southeast from near the city centre at The Plain near Magdalen Bridge, through the inner city area of East Oxford, and towards the industrial suburb of Cowley.
It is a section of the B480 road, which runs between Oxford and Henley-on-Thames. Cowley Road forms a terminal section of the B480 where it ends at The Plain, and becomes Oxford Road where it crosses the Boundary Brook and Marsh Road, before Temple Cowley (also known as Cowley). As such, Cowley is an area of Oxford distinct to Cowley Road, which is so named because it approaches Cowley. They are, however, often mistakenly conflated. Oxford also has another distinct Cowley Road, in Littlemore. Cowley Road in Littlemore approaches Cowley from the South, while the B480 Cowley Road approaches it from the North East.
Cowley Road is also the main shopping street of East Oxford, and in the evenings it is the area's main leisure district. The central shopping is at 51°44′46″N 1°13′55″W / 51.746°N 1.232°W.
Cowley Road, like most of Oxford, has an ethnically and economically diverse population. This includes significant, long-standing South Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities, who have been joined more recently by East European, Chinese and African arrivals. Alongside these ethnic groups, East Oxford plays host to many members of the city's academic population, both undergraduate and academic staff, and is home to many politically active groups.
Cowley Road has high levels of both road traffic and pedestrian traffic, and space for both is limited. In 2005, Oxfordshire County Council invested about £1,000,000 from central government to re-model the busiest part of Cowley Road. The carriageway has been realigned and colourfully resurfaced, the pavements have been repaved, cycle lanes have been enhanced in some places and removed from others and in one section the speed limit has been reduced to 20 miles per hour (32 km/h).