As part of a £7 million pound project, Gosford Street will be opened up and the number of lanes of traffic reduced to make it more attractive for visitors and university students.
From today Gosford Street, Cox Street, Whitefriars Street and Jordan Well will be closed for 7 weeks so the work can take place.
Signs, traffic lights and road markings will be removed to make it the city’s first ‘shared space.’
Councillor Lindsley Harvard, Cabinet Member for City Services said: “The eyes of the world will be on us in 2012 when we have more Olympic activity in Coventry than in any other city outside London.
“This is very exciting by itself – but I am just as excited about the improvements we are making in the city centre because they will be the real, lasting legacy for local people.”
How the same area looked in 1963: