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Flashride this Sunday to protest at Olympic closures of River Lea towpath and Stratford Greenway

Local cyclists and walkers aim to highlight lack of safe alternative routes during two-month closures

Users of a towpath along the River Lea that is closed for two months due to security concerns associated with the Olympic and Paralympic Games are staging a flashride protest this Sunday to reinforce their view, outlined on their Open Our Towpath website, that LOCOG’s official diversion “is not a safe or viable alternative.”

The affected section of the towpath, which also forms part of National Cycle Route 1, has been closed since 3 July and will not reopen until 10 September.

It stretches from close to the Eastway in the north along the western perimeter of the Olympic Park to just north of Sustrans’ award winning ‘floating towpath’ beneath the Bow Flyover.

The picture accompanying this article, taken looking south (that’s the Eastway at the bottom) shows on the right most of the affected section of the towpath.

The closure is not highlighted on the Get Ahead of the Games website launched by Transport for London (TfL), nor is another temporary closure, from this Friday, of a section of the Greenway off-road cycle and walking route.

According to the organisers of the protest, who launched their campaign after coming into contact with each other via Twitter, cyclists usually using the Greenway who have asked for a diversion to be put in place during the closure have not received a reply.

Sunday's flashride, which walkers are also more than welcome to accompany, will start with a barbecue at noon at the site of the closure on the towpath underneath the Eastway bridge.

It will then head off at 1.30pm to take in the Barclays Cycle Superhighway on the A11, the Bow Roundabout, where two cyclists were killed last autumn, and Stratford High Street.

Pointing out that since flashrides move slowly, they slow down traffic, organisers said that “nervous cyclists and children are especially welcome. If you are normally too afraid to use the roads, come along and make your voice heard!

“Pedestrians are encouraged to come too and walk alongside us on the pavement,” they added. “The route is as unsafe for pedestrians as it is for cyclists, due to dangerous unlit bridges and many junctions with no safe crossing facilities (including Bow).”

Highlighting the temporary closures in April on the London news section of its website, Sustrans said that it “will be working with LOCOG in the run up to the Games to ensure that the NCN1 diversion will be adequately signed to help users stay on-route, and that all other changes are clearly signed.”

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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9 comments

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Coleman | 11 years ago
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Blast. I'm probably out of town on Sunday. Good luck to everyone going.

"The greenest olympics ever."

Do me a favour. They've actually made it more difficult to get around by bike. Morons.

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step-hent | 11 years ago
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Kind of agree with Rhys really - it's easy to moan at car drivers who complain about road closures or diversions for events, when we say 'just live with it for a bit'. Can't we do the same?

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Coleman replied to step-hent | 11 years ago
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step-hent wrote:

Kind of agree with Rhys really - it's easy to moan at car drivers who complain about road closures or diversions for events, when we say 'just live with it for a bit'. Can't we do the same?

It's rather disingenuous to compare this closure to the measures brought into control motorised traffic during the games. Closing this route is completely unnecessay.

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RhysW | 11 years ago
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This may not do cycling as a cause too much good, the West of London will be closed by the Women’s road race and the protest will close a major North – East London corridor – it may just antagonise the already ruffled.

Also one would assume a moderate to large section of the support would be supporting the women’s road race.

A plea for clemency to the organizers to do this at a different time or not at all … please … remember some drivers take it out on other cyclists further down the road.

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Coleman replied to RhysW | 11 years ago
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RhysW wrote:

This may not do cycling as a cause too much good, the West of London will be closed by the Women’s road race and the protest will close a major North – East London corridor – it may just antagonise the already ruffled.

Also one would assume a moderate to large section of the support would be supporting the women’s road race.

A plea for clemency to the organizers to do this at a different time or not at all … please … remember some drivers take it out on other cyclists further down the road.

When do you suggest? After the Olympics?

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cat1commuter | 11 years ago
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The Olympics has basically ignored cycling as viable form of transport, and solution to congestion problems.

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Simon_MacMichael | 11 years ago
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Hi Minty - double checked the date before posting but missed that incorrect Saturday reference further down - now corrected to Sunday. Cheers for pointing it out.

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Minty | 11 years ago
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The day in in the article is stated as being Saturday.

The website and the heading of the article states Sunday.

Can you check and amend the article to avoid confusion.

Thanks.

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Sarah Barth | 11 years ago
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Would love to be there, if only it started a little earlier

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