LONDON 2012 organisers have unveiled a raft of measures to help Greenwich’s local transport network cope with the thousands of visitors expected for next summer’s Olympics.
Chief among the proposals, which went on display today and can be viewed by residents until Saturday, are road closures and an enlarged one way system around the town centre throughout the Olympics.
Greenwich Church Street will be closed to traffic, as will Straightsmouth at peak times and Greenwich High Road towards the town centre from the junction of Norman Road, as these become designated pedestrian routes from Greenwich railway station.
Marshals will guide the throngs of spectators along these routes and then down College Approach and through the Old Royal Naval College where they will then access Greenwich Park by crossing two new temporary footbridges across Romney Road.
Locog’s City Operations Manager, Jennifer Impett said of the proposed footbridges:
“We want to maintain the vehicle route as much as we can. The one way gyratory will be adding some pressure within the area so we need to maintain free flowing traffic as much as we can.”
A bridge is also proposed to get spectators arriving via Blackheath station across the A2 from the heath to Greenwich Park.
Drivers heading into Greenwich from Greenwich High Road will have to turn left at the Norman Road junction, before turning into Creek Road and then joining the existing one way system.
Organisers say that Cutty Sark DLR station will have to close during peak hours as it doesn’t have the capacity to deal with the volume of spectators.
Olympic ticket-holders tempted to try and park in Greenwich will find that hours have been extended in all Controlled Parking Zones (CPZ).
Areas within a 30 minute walking radius of the park which aren’t currently in a CPZ will have new temporary controls put in place to deter spectators planning to drive in, and residents and businesses will be issued with special Olympic parking permits.
Other key proposals include:
- Closing Charlton Way and The Avenue/Blackheath Avenue from 7 July-8 September.
- Closing the Lewisham-bound DLR platform at Greenwich train station, with passengers asked to join services Deptford Bridge instead.
- Using the Blackwall Tunnel, the A2 and Prince Charles Road, Maze Hill Road, Park Vista and Park Row as Olympic Road Network routes for transporting athletes and the “Olympic family”.
- Setting aside 100 car parking spaces for Blue Badge holders.
- Establishing “park and ride” areas around Blackheath so spectators can be coached in from Bluewater and Lakeside.
The proposals, along with more planning documents, will soon be submitted to Greenwich Council as London 2012 organisers attempt to meet the conditions of its original planning application.
Clues as to the kind of stunning images viewers at home can expect were hinted at with maps showing the construction of a mile-long cable to carry a TV camera from Millwall Park high over the Thames, swooping across the Old Royal Naval College and equestrian arena in Greenwich Park before finishing near the General Wolfe statue.
London 2012 Venue General Manager for Greenwich Park, Jeremy Edwards, commented: “We’re trying to do everything we can to make sure the experience next year is one of the most memorable for the people of Greenwich and the spectators.”
Remaining London 2012 Transport Drop In Sessions
Friday: 09.00 – 18.00
Saturday: 09.00 – 17.00
Devonport House, King William Walk, Greenwich
They should leave the footbridge over the A2 in place. It sounds useful…
Why such a short consultation? Do those of us who work Mon-Fri and happen to have a commitment for the one weekend day not have views that count?
My one questions remains – how will I get to work in central London during the Olympics?
My understanding is that the trains from Westcombe Park will be reduced to one-third of the usual provision, that the DLR will er out of bounds, and that the boats and Jubilee line will be crammed.
Because it is was not a consultation, it was an “exhibition”. No one was taking notes of what people said, there were no feedback forms. The ODA isn’t interested in your views – or those of any member of the public.
I wonder what the Civil Aviation Authority and the Port of London Authority think about the tv cable over the Thames.
The Council’s suggested solution for Park-users when Greenwich Park is closed is to travel to munipal parks. Millions of people normally visit the Park each summer because it is part of a World Heritage Site. They are not interested in going to a municipal park; they want to see Greenwich Park, the Observatory, and the NMM. LOCOG appears to have extended the closure of the Observatory from 10 days to 47 days. The Observatory is going to lose an eye-watering amount of revenue.
I went to see the transport plans for the 2012 Olympics but did not realise at the time the implications of the one way system proposed on Blackheath. I think that there is a fundamental error in the way that the one-way system will run. I think that it should be a one way from the tea hut, so that traffic can turn right off the heath going towards Blackheath Village. The proposed plans have the one-way coming up that road where the tea hut is, onto the main road. If this remains then the traffic that wants to go across the heath to Blackheath Village will have to go right up to the roundabout by Prince Charles Road, and this will cause yet more congestion, whereas if it can still turn right by the tea hut, then it will ease the congestion at the roundabout which is always congested at the best of times. Also if the prosposed plan remains then traffic will not be able to turn right into the proposed one way street as it will be an illegal turn off of Blackheath Hill. I think that the plan should have the one-way system on the heath reversed, thus easing all of the above problems.
I think this was a pre-consultration exhibition, with the Council needing to do a formal consultation later.
http://www.greenwich.gov.uk/Greenwich/2012Games/OlympicNews/Give-views-Greenwich-2012-traffic-management-plans.htm
The LOCOG webiste seems remarkably uninformative about what is proposed.
Did this exhibition include information about disruption to the bus routes? My understanding is that the bus operators are keeping their buses well away from the affected areas, so those of living locally will have to walk some distance to get our buses.
They won’t be confirmed until next year. I’ve seen some plans and they include service *enhancements* to the 108 and 129, but obviously that isn’t the full picture.
I toddled along to the ‘exhibition’ where we locals were referred to as “background traffic”…. nice touch
I was asking them safety provision for passengers at the stations, esp how commuters would be able to get safely in and out of stations against the flow of spectators. They had no idea. Kept referring it to the railway companies…. not realising that many of the issues will be how the areas outside the station approach are managed (think Wembley Stadium)
They had absolutely no idea of the simple equation lots of people = overcrowding = increased risk of death.
Great.
I thought I’d seen something about 54, 108 and others no longer serving Blackheath Standard, so that we have to walk to Woolwich Road for our nearest services.
So, was this exhibition just about roads? It’ll be public transport changes that affects most of us, I think.
Yes, it baffles me that have chosen to have the cross country event on one day, instead of spreading it out over, say four days. If they’d done that, they could have doubled the number of people who get tickets, but reduced the daily crowding by half.
It seems absurd to be going to all this effort, and extended closure of the park, for just a single day. Nuts.
“it baffles me that have chosen to have the cross country event on one day, instead of spreading it out over, say four days.”
The cross-country competition is not spread out over four days for the same reason that a football match is not spread out over four days (or two days or whatever).
Don’t see why. In a football match the two teams are competing over possesion of the resources (the ball, and space). In this sort of horse-riding the competitors aren’t on the pitch at the same time, so it seems easy enough to do fewer of them each day – instead of making it 12 hours on one day, make 3 hours on each of 4 days.
Agree it was an exhibition rather than a feedback session – staff were very good.
From what I remember I was told (for main Olympics – not para):
– 14 out of 16 days there’s activity in the park.
– a bit baffled by one-way system but think greenwich church street closed off to traffic
– visitors needing additional support/access – Maze Hill Gate area
– majority of visitors enter over two bridges across Nelson Road
– more DLR trains ‘one every 2 minutes’)
– 3000 staff ‘because the visitor experience is paramount’ – locals?!)
– full access to all local shops throughout games
– commuters: trains stop at westcombe park/maze hill in morning going To London but not FROM London (apparently to stop influx of visitors getting off at Maze Hill ‘which couldn’t cope’)
– trains stop in evening peak FROM London but no TO London
– access routes across park after main games and during para looked iffy and the park ‘may not be put back in the advertised timescales – if things like the weather get bad’ – ummmm carte blanche to do whatever….
– on exit asked if proposed £200 parking fine was too much/little…
LOCOG have a massive, world-reputation-threatening, headache with the temporary arena surface. The re-test of the surface didn’t solve the problems. When do the BEF and LOCOG have to start thinking the unthinkable?
Daily Telegraph
26 October 2011
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/equestrianism/8849127/London-2012-Olympics-surface-to-be-imported-to-Greenwich-unsuitable-for-equestrianism-events-riders-say.html
“London 2012 Olympics: surface to be imported to Greenwich unsuitable for equestrianism events, riders say
Organisers of the London Olympics admit they are still no closer to resolving the problems with the much-criticised competition arena surface for next summer’s equestrian events after a re-test of the material produced more complaints from international riders.”
Thanks for that, SoC.
“14 out of 16 days there’s activity in the park.” – that’s just in the arena bi at the bottom, though, isn’t it? AIUI, the rest of the park is being closed for several weeks just to accommodate a single day of cross country stuff.
Thanks particularly for the news on trains. Sounds like they are starting to see sense about how those of us paying for the games will manage to get to work while it’s happening.