Olympic VIP motorcade threatens massive traffic disruption

13 April 2012

Lanes are to be reserved for athletes and officials on London's busiest roads during the 2012 Olympics. The scheme could bring chaos for ordinary motorists sparking anger in the way of John Prescott's M4 bus lane and bring back memories of the way Soviet motorcades glided through closed Moscow streets.

It will operate like bus lanes on routes including the North Circular Road and Victoria Embankment. Ordinary motorists who enter them willface-hefty fines.

Investigations are under way into whether similar restrictions will also be needed on roads such as the A10, A12, M3 and M4 linking outlying venues.

By comparison, the 500,000 spectators a day expected to go to the Games will be expected to use public transport, with their entrance tickets providing free travel within Greater London.

There will be 10 Tube and train lines serving the Olympic park in Stratford, including a seven- minute shuttle on Japanese-style bullet trains from central London.

The plans, published today, encourage spectators to walk, cycle or use river boats. Almost 150 miles of roads will become known as the "Olympic route network". This includes 25 miles of dedicated lanes designed to speed International Olympic Committee members from their Park Lane hotels to Stratford in 20 minutes.

This network extends to the ExCel conference centre in the Royal Docks, which will host martial arts, and Greenwich Park, for the equestrian events.

Jenny Jones, the Mayor's road safety adviser, accused Olympic chiefs of errors in planning the VIP accommodation. She said: "They should have put everybody-closer to the stadium. These lanes are an idea that sounds good in principle but is going to create chaos. You can't bring the city to a stop just because of the Olympics."

A spokeswoman for the RAC Foundation said: "I think motorists will find this very difficult to swallow, especially if they're not sports fans." The Games will bring around 55,000 athletes and officials to London but most should be within 15 minutes of their venue.

London's Olympic leaders claimed today's proposals would make the 2012 Games the "best connected ever". London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said: "To have our transport plan ready six years before the Games is unprecedented. We will keep London moving during the Games.

"I want to see athletes competing not commuting, and spectators watching not waiting." Last week, there were major advances on three key Olympicrelated projects.

A contractor was appointed to carry out the £363m extension of the East London Line; the goahead was given to extend the Docklands Light Railway and plans to ease congestion on the notorious North Circular Road at Bounds Green were passed, although they are expected to bring travel chaos until completion in March 2011.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in