Residents and businesses along the routes of the London 2012 Games’ road cycling, triathlon, marathon and race walking events will, from this week, receive detailed information on how they will be affected and can plan to get ahead of the Games.
The London 2012 Games road events will take place on routes passing through Westminster, City of London, Kensington & Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, Kingston upon Thames, Wandsworth and Richmond upon Thames – as well as Surrey – and, as a result, the local areas will be much busier than usual.
Details of how and when the events will impact on the road network in these areas is being provided through a campaign of letter drops, road shows and publicity, delivered by Transport for London (TfL) in partnership with London 2012 and London boroughs on road event routes.
Road events in London will take place on seven of the 16 days of the Olympic Games and on one day of the Paralympic Games.
To ensure the safety of athletes and spectators, road races need to take place on secure roads and closures and parking restrictions will need to be put in place on the days of the competitions.
These will be managed to keep disruption to a minimum and all roads will be opened safely as quickly as possible after the events have finished.
After the events, barriers will need to be removed, road signs, traffic lights and islands reinstated, roads thoroughly cleaned and crowds dispersed before roads can be re-opened safely.
The majority of road events will be held at weekends and some competitions will only take place for a few hours beginning in the morning.
Where possible, roads will be reopened and restrictions lifted by the late afternoon or early evening. No roads will be closed overnight apart from the roads needed to build the Cycle Time Trial venue at Hampton Court Palace.
Fleets are advised to avoid the areas on competition days, but if journeys are absolutely necessary they should use all of the information provided by TfL to plan their route carefully and leave additional time for journeys.
Many of the road events will be located on roads that make up part of the Olympic Route Network (ORN), which links key venues to ensure the Games family get to events on time, while also keeping London moving. While events are taking place on sections of the ORN an alternative route will be used by Games family vehicles.
The ORN used on road event days will have minimal traffic measures in place; longer parking and stopping restrictions will apply when the route is in operation and some parking and loading bays will be suspended.
Along only one section, the Euston Road, City Road and Commercial Street, some bus stops and pedestrian crossings will be suspended, with some banned right turns on event days. Games family traffic will not have designated Games lanes on this alternative route but will share existing bus lanes along two of the sections of route.
Leon Daniels, TfL’s MD Surface Transport said: “Areas around road events will obviously be busier than usual. Drivers are urged to avoid these travel hotspot areas if at all possible, or if journeys are absolutely essential to plan ahead and allow more time.”
For further information, visit the TfL website and see this week’s Fleet News to help you plan for London 2012.
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