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Tour de France 2007
Transport for London has begun final preparations in Bexley for Stage One of the Tour de France on 8 July 2007.
The Grand Départ of the Tour de France, the World’s largest annual sporting event, will be coming to London for the first time during the weekend of 6-8 July 2007. The race will see some of the greatest names in cycle racing fighting it out for the famous Yellow Jersey on the Capital’s streets.
The Prologue and Stage One of the famous race will take place on closed sections of the Capital’s streets. The Prologue on Saturday 7 July will be an eight kilometre (five miles) lap of central London, starting on Whitehall, taking in some of London’s most famous landmarks including Whitehall, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, and finishing on the Mall. While Stage One, on Sunday 8 July, will start in central London before heading out through the Kent countryside to the stage finish in Canterbury.
The race will be run on closed roads, with the roads closed for several hours (longer for roads on the Prologue route), with some additional parking controls in place on and near the race route. To allow local residents in Bexley to prepare for this, Transport for London have delivered leaflets to all houses and businesses located within 250 metres of the route, to pre-warn them of the road closures.
TfL’s Head of Special Projects, Mick Hickford, said: “The Tour de France is so much more than a cycle race and creates a carnival atmosphere wherever it visits. The Tour will be great for London, showcasing the UK capital to the world, bringing huge amounts of visitors to London and encouraging more Londoners to take to two wheels.”
“TfL will be working hard, with the emergency services and borough councils, to ensure that disruption is kept to a minimum so everyone can enjoy this fantastic free-to-view event safely. The Grand Départ website www.tourdefrancelondon.com will provide frequent updates on local events and road closures.”
On the day of the race, there will be no access to the roads affected by the Stage One Route in Bexley, however, there will be a number of vehicular access points in Bexley, as well as in Southwark, Lewisham and Greenwich. These will close three hours before the arrival of the riders and re-open approximately 30 minutes after the last riders have passed. Although the affected roads will be closed for a majority of the day, Transport for London 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. Zebra crossings, pelican crossings and all traffic signals will remain on, but will not apply to any vehicles involved in the Tour de France. This means that while the route is closed, Tour de France vehicles 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 2pm on the Sunday.
Vehicular access points will be at the following locations in Bexley:
· Knee Hill crossing Bostal Hill/Woolwich Road into Brampton Road (north and southbound). Closes at 08:10
· Albert Road crossing Woolwich Road into Heron Hill
(northbound only). Closes at 08:15
· Picardy Road crossing Woolwich/Erith Road into Nuxley Road (southbound only). Closes at 08:15
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