Transport for LondonTransport for London sets out Tour de France travel arrangements and road closures
Roads closed across the weekend, with buses on diversion, but Tube engineering works suspended in Central London.
The huge logistical arrangements to support the London Grand Départ of the Tour de France and catering for more than one million spectators were set out today by Transport for London (TfL).
There will be road closures from 12:00 on Friday 6 July, meaning some bus route diversions.
However, all Tube engineering works in central London have been suspended over the weekend.
The Tour de France, the largest annual sporting event in the world, will be coming to London for the first time during the weekend of 6-8 July 2007.
The Grand Départ will see huge numbers of people lining the streets to see some of the greatest names in cycle racing fighting it out for the famous yellow jersey on the Capital's streets.
There will be significant road closures in London across the weekend to ensure the safety of riders and spectators.
Roads will be closed for the Opening Ceremony on Friday 6 July, the Prologue on Saturday 7 July and Stage One on Sunday 8 July.
This will mean many bus routes will be diverted or shortened for parts of the weekend.
Commuters are urged to avoid the Trafalgar Square area on Friday evening as there will be large crowds for the Opening Ceremony.
All engineering works on London Underground have been suspended in central London.
TfL will also be providing an additional 11,000 temporary cycle parking spaces for spectators.
TfL's Head of Special Projects, Mick Hickford, said: 'Staging the Grand Départ of the Tour de France is a huge logistical operation.
'With one million spectators in London alone and a significant programme of road closures is a real challenge.
'But this event has been years in the planning and I am confident disruption will be kept to a minimum.'
TfL has produced an easy-to-use leaflet to help spectators follow the race, find the stations near the best viewpoints and avoid the busy crowds.
These leaflets are available at all London Underground stations and can be downloaded from the TfL website at: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/.
To allow access across closed roads on the Stage One route, there will be a number of vehicular crossing points, which will close three hours before the arrival of the riders and re-open approximately 30 minutes after the last riders have passed.
Although these roads will be closed for a majority of the day, TfL will be working with race officials and local police to re-open affected roads as soon as possible.
Pedestrian access will still be possible along the Stage One route on Sunday 8 July 2007.
Zebra crossings, pelican crossings and all traffic signals will remain on, but will not apply to any vehicles involved in the Tour de France, which may be travelling at high speeds.
Extreme caution is advised when these vehicles are passing and when crossing these roads.
All roads are expected to be re-opened by 14:00 on Sunday.
Road closures
The Opening Ceremony on Friday 6 July
Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Strand and Charing Cross Road will be closed from 12:00 until about 23:00.
All buses will be diverted away from the area during this time.
Whitehall will remain closed overnight.
The Prologue on Saturday 7 July
The following roads will be closed from about 07:00 until 2100: Trafalgar Square, Strand, Whitehall, Westminster Bridge, Victoria Street, Hyde Park Corner, Kensington Road, Kensington Gore, and parts of Park Lane, Millbank and Charing Cross Road.
The Grand Départ on Sunday 8 July
The following bridges will be closed: Westminster, Blackfriars, Southwark, London Bridge and Tower Bridge, with many other roads around Trafalgar Square, Parliament Square, Waterloo, Blackfriars, St Paul's, Bank, Monument and Tower of London also closed.
London Buses
The Opening Ceremony on Friday 6 July
Routes 12, 15, 23, 24, 88, 139, 159, 176 and 453 will be diverted via New Oxford Street, Kingsway and Aldwych, with routes 12, 88, 159 and 453 continuing via Waterloo Bridge and York Road.
These routes will also be unable to serve Regent Street or Piccadilly Circus.
Routes 11, 24 and 87 will also use Waterloo Bridge, York Road and Westminster Bridge.
Some routes will terminate short of their normal destination: 3 (Millbank), 6, 9 & 13 (Piccadilly Circus), 29 (Tottenham Court Road), 53 (Parliament Square) and 91 (Aldwych).
Whitehall will remain closed overnight and buses will not serve stops in Whitehall and Parliament Street.
The Prologue on Saturday 7 July
The following routes will be diverted: 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 19, 22, 23, 38, 52, 74, 88, 137, 139, 148, 159, 211, 360, 414, 452, 453.
The following routes will stop short of their normal destination: 2, 3. 6, 9, 12, 13, 16, 29, 53, 73, 82, 87, 91, 436.
Routes 24 and 36 will operate in two sections with no through service in the central area.
Late evening and Night services from 21:00 until 0:00 on Sunday will be diverted away from Whitehall and Parliament Street.
The Grand Départ on Sunday 8 July
Buses will be diverted from about 06:00 until 13:00, with many routes stopping short of their normal destination and some routes will not operate at all during this time.
The following routes will be diverted: 8, 15, 24, 25, 26, 42, 45, 63, 76, 77, 78, 88, 100, 139, 148, 159, 176, 188, 242, 453 and C10.
The following routes will stop short of their normal destination: 3, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 17, 21, 23, 29, 35, 40, 42, 43, 48, 53, 76, 78, 87, 91, 133, 141, 149, 172, 211, 341, 343, 344 and 388.
Route 47, 381 and RV1 will not run at all in central London until roads are re-opened after the event, while night buses running after 06:00 on Sunday morning will also be diverted.
Docklands Light Railway
There are no planned closures on these services for the Tour de France weekend.
London Underground
There are no planned Underground works in central London during the event.
Hyde Park Corner, however, will be 'exit only' for the duration of Saturday 7 July.
Other stations will be operating crowd control methods and may be subject to short term measures.
There will be some alterations to services outside the Central London area during the Tour de France weekend, which may affect your journey:
- The Metropolitan line is suspended between Harrow-On-the-Hill and Amersham/Chesham/Watford. See http://www.tfl.gov.uk/ for replacement services
- On the Northern line, southbound trains will not stop at Highgate, while Northbound trains will not stop at Hendon Central
- Trains will not stop at Dollis Hill or Finchley Road on the Jubilee line
- The Bakerloo line is suspended between Willesden Junction and Harrow and Wealdstone until 1145 on Sunday 8 July only
More information:
- For 24-hour information on public transport in London, call 020 7222 1234
- For TfL's Realtime pages, that display live travel information on London's public transport network, visit www.tfl.gov.uk/realtime
- To plan your journey on the web, visit www.tfl.gov.uk/journeyplanner
- Travel alerts via SMS and email can be set up at www.tfl.gov.uk/alerts
Notes to editors:
- PDF maps of the route are available to media from TfL Press Office on request
- Full details of the route for the Tour de France Prologue on Saturday 7 July and Stage One on Sunday 8 July are available at http://www.tourdefrancelondon.com/ or by calling 020 7222 1234
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