London traffic delays amid Olympics modifications

Motorists in east London have experienced delays of up to an hour on their way into work as the capital’s roads went into Olympic mode.

Pre-Olympics modifications have been made to road layouts in some parts of London, with the Games now just days away.

But many employees would have needed to put in a sprint finish to make it to the office on time after being held up for as long as one hour on the A13 between the Canning Town Flyover and the A1261 East India Dock Link Tunnel junction in east London.

Elsewhere in east London, motorists on the A12 southbound were stuck in jams, while drivers on the A40 Western Avenue in west London sat in 45-minute delays.

The delays were not as bad as on Monday, suggesting motorists had been taking Transport for London’s advice to avoid driving in London ahead of and during the Games.

Changes to the roads have been made ahead of the Olympic traffic-only Games Lanes coming into force on Wednesday morning as part of the 109-mile Olympic Route Network.

The AA’s head of roads policy Paul Watters said: “London is now an Olympic city and that must be the priority.

“However, London’s essential services and businesses have to function too, but under a very different operational regime on the transport system.

“Londoners and visitors to the capital cannot say they haven’t been warned. The next few days will determine whether all the communication and planning has worked.

“Inevitably there will be teething troubles, congestion and at times frustration. The hope is that once the Games actually start everyone will see that it was all worth it and that the public will get behind the spirit of the games.”

Watters urged people considering travelling into London to check for any disruption on the internet before setting off.

He added: “It is still too early to tell whether people are heeding advice, but when there is congestion it doesn’t mean people have been ignoring advice – it will just be due to the scale of the event.”

Many of the 40,000 people invited to see the first full rehearsal of the Games’ opening ceremony on Monday evening missed the start of the show after Tube services were reportedly crippled.

People were seen running from Stratford Station to the rehearsal because they feared they would not be allowed in as they were late. Some people said they had considered giving up and just going home because they were so far behind schedule.