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Transport for London warns of road disruption ahead of Prudential RideLondon festival August 3 & 4Prudential RideLondon launch, Boris Johnson, Laura Trott and Tidjane Thiam with schoolchildren

Transport for London warns of road disruption ahead of Prudential RideLondon festival August 3 & 4

Roads and bridges to close, drivers warned to avoid London & Surrey
by John Stevenson
Wed, Jun 26, 2013 14:36
11

Transport for London has warned London road users to plan ahead around road and bridge closures during the Prudential RideLondon and FreeCycle events on August 3 and 4.

“Road users, residents and spectators advised to plan ahead to avoid disruption,” Transport for London says in a release.

Garrett Emmerson, Chief Operating Officer for Surface Transport at TfL, said: “Prudential RideLondon will be the largest ever mass-participation cycling event to take place in the UK.

“We want all participants, spectators and residents to enjoy the event weekend and all the usual attractions London has to offer.

“However, it is important that people become aware of the road closures, particularly on Sunday August 4.

“Roads around the route will be particularly busy and we urge people to plan ahead to avoid the disrupted areas.”

Boris Johnson’s bike festival

Prudential RideLondon is a two-day festival of cycling, that is planned to be the largest mass-participant cycling event ever held in the UK, with thousands of cyclists, including some of the world’s top professionals, taking part across four separate events.

The weekend includes FreeCycle, a free, family friendly bike ride which will take place on closed roads within Westminster and the City of London on August 3.

On Sunday August 4 road users are also advised to avoid driving in east, central and southwest London, and in the affected parts of Surrey, for the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 and Classic events.

The 100-mile Prudential RideLondon-Surrey route, on August 4, will start in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, passing Tower Hill, Blackfriars, Piccadilly, Hyde Park Corner, Gloucester Road, the Hammersmith Flyover, Cromwell Road, Chiswick Bridge, Sheen, Richmond Park, and Kingston.

It will then head into Surrey going through Walton on Thames, Weybridge, Newlands Corner, Holmbury St Mary, Leith Hill, Dorking, Box Hill, Leatherhead, Cobham and Esher.

On the return trip the route goes via Kingston, to Wimbledon, Putney High Street, Putney Bridge, New Kings Road, Chelsea Embankment, Millbank and Whitehall, before finishing on The Mall.

There will be a large number of road closures around the route from early morning on August 4 to make sure the route is secure and ready for the 100-mile event.

The events

The four main events of the weekend are:

Prudential RideLondon FreeCycle - an eight-mile central London route on closed roads for up to 50,000 people on Saturday August 3.

Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix criterium races. This invitational city centre loop will provide a focus for professional women, youth and hand cyclists on Saturday August 3

Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100. A 100-mile challenge ride on Sunday August 4, including charitable fundraising, through London and Surrey via Richmond Park, expected to attract 20,000 riders.

Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classicmen’s road race. Starting in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and following part of the Olympic Road Race route, this race will see the top international professional men take to the roads of London and Surrey in a UCI Europe Tour event ranked at the 1.1 level.

Closed roads & bridges

Roads closed for the events include, but are not limited to, the A12, Limehouse Link Tunnel, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Underpass and the A4.

A large number of river crossings will be closed for much of the day, having a major impact on road transport along the route.

River crossings and roads closed to traffic but not pedestrians on Sunday August 4 will include:

  • Blackwall Tunnel / A12 southbound - closed from 01:00, for regular maintenance work followed by the event preparation, to approximately 09:00
  • A12 northbound from A13 - closed from 05:00 to approximately 09:00
  • A13 eastbound and westbound from A12 to Leamouth Road - closed from 05:00 to approximately 09:00
  • Tower Bridge and Southwark Bridge - closed from 04:00 to approximately 15:15
  • Westminster Bridge, Lambeth Bridge and Vauxhall Bridge closed from 05:00 to after 19:30
  • Chelsea Bridge, Albert Bridge and Putney Bridge - closed from 05:00 to after 19:15
  • Chiswick Bridge - closed from 05:00 to after 14:30
  • Kingston Bridge - closed from 05:00 to after 19:15
  • Hampton Court Bridge - closed from 05:00. Open from 15:30 northbound and 19:00 southbound

The following river crossings will remain open throughout the day to road traffic:

  • Blackwall Tunnel northbound will remain open throughout the event with access to the A13 westbound and diversions to allow traffic to travel north
  • Rotherhithe Tunnel, London Bridge, Blackfriars Bridge and Waterloo Bridge will all remain open
  • Kew Bridge, Twickenham Bridge and Richmond Bridge will all remain open

Full details of road closures are available at www.tfl.gov.uk/prudentialridelondon and www.gosurrey.info.

Prudential RideLondon
RideLondon
City of London
surrey
John Stevenson

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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11 comments

Avatar
PJ McNally | 11 years ago
0 likes

Boris looks hilarious on that bike.

It's a halfords bike, a carrera virtuoso, I have one. Nice bike, worst tyres and saddle ever. Just change those over and it's fine!

Avatar
Timsen | 11 years ago
0 likes

I didn't get a place in the ballot...... Have a great day everyone !

Avatar
phillprice | 11 years ago
0 likes

I believe they're getting a fleeet of Rider only Thames CLippers to get from the Finish back to the piers in the East...

RETURNING FROM THE MALL

  • If you are cycling back to an official car park, you will be expected to find your own way, so if you are unfamiliar with London come prepared with a map or GPS and plan your route at www.tfl.gov.uk/cycling – but remember, you will be cycling on open roads again, so will be sharing the roads with other traffic.
  • Prudential RideLondon Chartered Thames Clippers, departing at regular intervals between 11:00 and 19:00, will be running from Blackfriars Pier to Canary Wharf, North Greenwich and Trinity Buoy Wharf Piers. They will be strictly for participants only, with no pre-booking required. Each boat can carry 50 participants and their bikes with a maximum journey time of 40 minutes.
  • There will also be the opportunity to have your bicycle transported from near the Finish Area back to a secure location in east London between 10:30 and 19:30, while you make your own way on public transport. Further details of this will be sent to you at a later date.

PICK-UP

  • Please plan your meeting point in advance with your friend/relative. When planning your meeting point you will need to consider the following to avoid the extensive road closures and any congestion:
  • Your agreed pick-up location should not be within a two-mile radius of The Mall, north of the river. This means that you will need to choose a location that is south of the river, north of Regents Park, east of Tower Bridge, or west of Kensington Gardens.
  • If you are being dropped off at an official drop-off location, the same locations will not be available for use as pick-up locations.
  • You are advised to use an existing off-street car-park facility, but make sure you agree this in advance. Many London roads require local parking permits and normal Sunday parking restrictions will apply.
Avatar
othello | 11 years ago
0 likes

Survey doesn't seem to have an option to say 'I'm travelling with someone else' -- a friend and I are car sharing. I would have thought they would have actively encouraged that option!

I'm not looking forward to the trek back from the finish to the parking 14

Avatar
RollinwithRankine replied to othello | 11 years ago
0 likes

Has anyone else received their start time?

As it mentions in the FAQ's

"You will be notified of the time of your start time by email at the beginning of June. Faster riders will be given earlier start times to minimise the need for overtaking and spread the field. All riders will have up to nine hours to complete the ride. Riders must plan travel carefully to ensure they arrive at the Start in good time for their assigned start time as it will not be possible to start in a later wave. No riders will be able to start after the last wave at 08:00."

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swedishmike | 11 years ago
0 likes

It seems to be tough to get to the start.

I'm staying in Fulham for the event and are currently trying to plot my route from there to the start. Looks like somewhere between 10 and 15 miles to get there.

Not having had our starting times yet doesn't help either. It could be a _very_ early morning to get to the start worst case scenario.

Somehow it feels like we're part of a beta-test in order to get next years one to run smoothly.

// Mike

Avatar
thebongolian replied to swedishmike | 11 years ago
0 likes
swedishmike wrote:

It seems to be tough to get to the start.

I'm staying in Fulham for the event and are currently trying to plot my route from there to the start. Looks like somewhere between 10 and 15 miles to get there.

Not having had our starting times yet doesn't help either. It could be a _very_ early morning to get to the start worst case scenario.

Somehow it feels like we're part of a beta-test in order to get next years one to run smoothly.

// Mike

I'm going to be riding to the start from Hammersmith so not far from there. Depending on when you have to get there you may get boxed in as the route turns Fulham into an island. You should be able to get out at Hammersmith (as the route goes over the flyover) then head along Ken High Street through Hyde Park and along Oxford Street. After that towards Old Street and Victoria Park then to the start. Looking at an extra 10-15 miles though.

Avatar
700c | 11 years ago
0 likes

Is anyone else taking part really confused by the latest communication from them?

We have to commit to choosing a transport option for the day, without which 'your entry is incomplete' 13 two of the options given are park and cycle or drop off point and cycle to start, but no details of where these are?

Then they're saying it's a very early start to accommodate the later road race?!

Have they just realised this?! And also that no public transport will get anyone to the start at that time of day?

And to get back to an official point you will be expected to find your own way back across London to the official parking zones. Sorry but who wants to battle London traffic after 100+ miles of cycling?

Pi$$ up in a brewery springs to mind

Avatar
CraigS replied to 700c | 11 years ago
0 likes
700c wrote:

Is anyone else taking part really confused by the latest communication from them?

We have to commit to choosing a transport option for the day, without which 'your entry is incomplete' 13 two of the options given are park and cycle or drop off point and cycle to start, but no details of where these are?

Then they're saying it's a very early start to accommodate the later road race?!

Have they just realised this?! And also that no public transport will get anyone to the start at that time of day?

And to get back to an official point you will be expected to find your own way back across London to the official parking zones. Sorry but who wants to battle London traffic after 100+ miles of cycling?

Pi$$ up in a brewery springs to mind

Yup looks pretty awful to me. Just been fleeced out of another £15 "administration fee" for the park & cycle at The O2.

When I saw the start/finish locations were different I assumed they'd have some sort of plan for moving people around - how wrong I was! I live right on a HS1 station and can get to the Olympic Park in under 10 minutes but public transport isn't an option.

Avatar
Goldfever4 replied to 700c | 11 years ago
0 likes
700c wrote:

Is anyone else taking part really confused by the latest communication from them?

We have to commit to choosing a transport option for the day, without which 'your entry is incomplete' 13 two of the options given are park and cycle or drop off point and cycle to start, but no details of where these are?

Then they're saying it's a very early start to accommodate the later road race?!

Have they just realised this?! And also that no public transport will get anyone to the start at that time of day?

And to get back to an official point you will be expected to find your own way back across London to the official parking zones. Sorry but who wants to battle London traffic after 100+ miles of cycling?

Pi$$ up in a brewery springs to mind

I clicked through and there was a map which was helpful in showing locations for drop-off & pick-up, but I wish I had known what a faff this will be before paying my hard-earned for entry!

And yes it's interesting that they expect entrants to finish, collect all the random tat and then cycle on home after...

Avatar
Bob's Bikes replied to 700c | 11 years ago
0 likes
700c wrote:

Pi$$ up in a brewery springs to mind

Tell me about it I've been told I'm a route marshall but as yet have still received NO INFORMATION AT ALL.

But to the people taking part (if you can get to the start) best of luck to you hope you have a great time.

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