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London Olympics – Get Ahead Of The Games

NewsThe Olympic TFL information roadshow visited Teddington this week to provide more detail about the events being held in the area and the disruption they will cause.

Although we are very lucky to have Olympic events visiting the area, the road closures will have a major impact over several days – plan ahead to avoid disappointment no matter how you usually travel.

On Friday 27th July, the Olympic Torch will start the final leg of its journey from Diana Fountain [Updated info from Royal Parks] the Teddington Gate of Bushy Park at 6:55am, travelling towards Diana Fountain, Hampton Court then along the Thames aboard the Queens rowbarge Gloriana which will be powered by a team of rowing celebrities and accompanied by a 35-strong flotilla of historic boats & skiffs. Setting off from Hampton Court at 7:30am, the flotilla will pass through Teddington Lock on its journey at approximately 8:20am – see estimated times for the whole river journey.

Note: spectators will not be allowed on the Lock island for the torch visit and although available for access, the foot bridge will not be able to used as a viewing point for safety reasons.

If you want to catch the Olympic flame in the borough at a more reasonable hour, it will be travelling through Richmond and Kingston on the 24th (8-10am).

The London-Surrey Classic cycle Road Race will taking place on the weekend of 28th/29th July with parking suspension on the route itself from Friday 27th. Roads will close from 4am on race days and re-open as soon as it is safe to do so (open in between the Saturday/Sunday races).

Approximate times that the racing pack will pass through key locations can be found here – Teddington will see riders pass at approximately on Saturday at 10:20am and Sunday at 12:30pm, get there early though if you want to view the race as big crowds are expected.

For the August 2011 Road Race trial, organisers did publish rough times when the roads would re-open but the London riots occurring only a week previous meant that barriers had to be securely stored and re-opening roads too longer than anticipated. It is for this reason (unknown factors) that no times have been estimated this for the real event to avoid disappointment – the large crowds will be a factor too.

[Update 18/07/2012] More detail from Richmond Council – for the weekend races. Three crossing points (ELAPS) in Teddington will still allow vehicles to cross the road race route except near race time (8:45-11am on Saturday and 10:45am-1pm) but severe congestion is expected near the race route – the general advice is to only drive in the area if your journey is urgent.

Pedestrians will be able to cross the race route at any time except when the riders are actually passing. A list of frequently asked questions & their answers has also been published by Richmond Council.

On Tuesday 31st July a rehearsal for the Time Trial race will take place between 10am-12pm that will require a rolling road closure on the route – this will cause some traffic congestion.

Then the following day Wednesday 1st August road closures similar to the weekend’s Road Race will take place from early morning (5:30am) on the Time Trial route (except for Hampton Court Road which will close at 10pm Tuesday 31st July).

The Time Trials will begin with the Women’s at 12:30-2:15pm and Men’s at 2:15-4:30pm. Due to the nature of the time trial format, riders will be racing against the clock one at a time so marshals will be able to let pedestrians cross the race route regularly in between competitors if they see that the road is clear.

** [Update 31/07/2012] : only the Men’s Time Trial will use the full circuit, for the Women’s race, racers will head directly from Kingston Bridge towards Hampton Court Palace (cutting out Kingston Road/Waldegrave Road & Bushy Park). **

Changes, diversions and suspensions to bus routes have been provided by TFL. On the Road Race days, some local buses routes will run in sections but mostly won’t be in the central Teddington area due to it being caught between two major road closures in either direction.

You can get more info on how your area on the official Get Ahead Of The Games site and more local detail on the Richmond Council’s Olympic pages.

For train commuters, Richmond, Wimbledon and Clapham Junction stations have been flagged in advance as being busier than usual during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with Waterloo in particular being exceptionally busy at times due to being a major interchange station (mostly at morning rush hour).

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