London cyclists who use the Greenwich Foot Tunnel as a means of getting across the Thames have reacted angrily to suggestions that it might be closed for almost a year.
The tunnel, which links Greenwich to Tower Hamlets, is to undergo refurbishment works beginning this September, which will last until March 2011.
But according to Greenwich.co.uk, a ferry company that has been asked to tender for a replacement service across the river has been told by Greenwich Council that the tunnel will be completely closed for between 10 months and a year.
Some 1.5 million people use the tunnel every year, and at its peak accommodates 250 cyclists an hour. It is part of National Cycle Route 1, linking Dover to Inverness.
Anthony Austin, chair of Greenwich Cyclists, said: “There’s no point in closing the tunnel. It’s not clear they need to close the stairs when they are doing the lifts. We cyclists have come to use it as an absolutely essential link.”
When the tunnel closes, cyclists - who are not allowed on the Docklands Light Railway - face an eight to ten-mile diversion to reach Canary Wharf from south London. At a meeting with cycle activists, Peter Brookes, deputy leader of the council, said that any replacement ferry service would “not be frequent.”
The DLR link will itself be closed on several weekends over the next eight months as part of the three-car upgrade programme.
The council says the closure is intended to provide “state-of-the-art conditions” in the tunnels in the run-up to the Olympics.
Been available for quite a while, full GRX mechanical 12 speed. Probably around the same time as 105 mechanical 12 speed if I were to guess.
Less harmful citrus degreaser is easy to find at £8 or less for 5 litres. Works ok for me, even diluted up to 4:1. Both paraffin and white spirit...
Nope, it's to keep your straps down and quieter. Plus most sunglasses are polycarbonate and aren't going to shatter like glass anyway
Why do you say Gaza children were killed but Israeli children murdered?...
And, more seriously, where's the coverage of the closure of the cycle lane which forces you to cycle on the Totton bypass.
Claiming an article you haven't read ignores some of the most important facts strikes me as somewhat premature, they do asess exactly that....
Lancashire Police are twinned with Lanarkshire Police.
Garden wall smashed as driver flees the scene of a crash in Willesborough, Ashford...
Except for the bits where it isn't. Unless my maps are broken there is at least one stretch where, if you were travelling south, you'd be driving...
Dr Dan ? nothing, Main Road in Kesgrave is just as bad as anything Woodbridge chucks at you to cycle on, imo its actually worse, but people always...