Coe calm on Olympics transport problems
London 2012 chairman Lord Coe has played down talk of transport problems after Olympic athletes and officials experienced some travel delays yesterday.
Despite being given priority access to a special Games Lane on the M4 motorway, the 25-mile trip from Heathrow Airport to the Olympic Park was less than straightforward for some.
Two-time world 400 metres hurdles champion Kerron Clement claimed his bus journey to Stratford took four hours, while a bus carrying 30 Australian officials and medical staff reportedly lost its way.
Coe today cooled talk of transport problems and insisted that transport operations went well on the whole yesterday as the first competitors moved into the Olympic Village.
“I don’t think we should get out of proportion some of these issues,” he said.
“We had a tweet yesterday talking about a four-hour delay when it was actually two-and-a-half hours.
“We had a driver that missed a turning. Well, out of 100 coach journeys that is likely to happen.
“The majority of athletes got in in good shape and on time. When they were met by our Village
mayor and chief executive they were busily tweeting saying how much they were enjoying Village life.
“Getting in from the airport and to the Village is important and 98% of those journeys went without any hitch at all yesterday.”
Coe was also quick to defend the move to open the M4’s Games Lane yesterday after images emerged of traffic congestion in the area.
A 3.5-mile stretch along the previous M4 bus lane between junctions three and two on the London-bound carriageway is now in operation between 5am and 10pm, while the remaining lanes will open next Wednesday – July 25 – at 6am.
“The Highways Agency were quite clear with us yesterday that there was no more heavy traffic around those lanes then there would have been at any normal time on a Monday,” Coe said.
“I understand there was an accident at Reading, which slowed some stuff down, but the vast majority of people got through and it seems to be working quite well.
“But it was the first day and remember that the Olympic Route Network and the Olympic Lanes are not up and running yet.
“We’ve just literally used the M4 lane to help with access from the airport.”
London mayor Boris Johnson admitted today that there would be “imperfections and things going wrong” as the capital coped with the Olympics.
Speaking in front of screens showing pictures of the state of London’s roads, Mr Johnson said: “At the moment things are going very, very well. There will be imperfections, there will be things going wrong.
“But this is a gynormous operation.
“Members of the public do seem to be heeding our message to avoid London if possible.
Yesterday, traffic in the morning was about 9.3% down and it was down by about 9% in the evening.
“My information is that no fines for entering the M4 Games Lane were issued yesterday, so it is working well and people are respecting it.”
Mr Johnson continued: “People should check the variable messages on the roads. Even during the busy Olympic periods, it may be possible to allow general traffic to use the lanes.”
Mr Johnson and Secretary of State for Transport Justine Greening spoke to the team monitoring traffic conditions in a vast room which comprises the Transport for London surface transport operations control centre at Southwark, south London.
Ms Greening said: “The Olympics will be a challenge for London and challenge for transport in London.”
Asked about possible drivers’ confusion over the Games Lanes, she said: “There are a lot of signs up. Motorists are being given all the information they need.
“The Olympic Route Network (ORN) is obviously going to be disruptive for local residents but I hope they realise what an amazing experience the Olympics is going to be.
“The ORN for the Games was brought in after the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta when some Paralympic competitors even missed their events due to transport problems. We have had to strike a balance between putting in the ORN and not affecting ordinary traffic too much.”
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