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.
I had three different cyclocross bikes before the marketing departments at various bicycle companies came up with the "gravel" category. All of...
Maybe the UK could try to reach some sort of agreement with the EU over things like international trade and such.
Cumbria County Council was a 1974 creation, merging the of old County Borough of Carlisle, and counties of Cumberland, and Westmorland - in which...
If BC want to insist on barriers then they should have their own stock loaded on a truck that they can rent out to organisers at reasonable cost,...
Well, there's lifetime bans and there's lifetime bans. Banning an 88 year old don't impress me much.
I think that is why blind eyes have been turned in the UK, internationally aswell, with things like the Redhook crits, there were many licensed...
Ahem - other esporters(?) might be rather surprised to hear that the UCI has taken over their events - I think that would be the Cycling Esports...
I wonder how he got to the game?
You'd need some good wet weather gear for that ride too.
It seems to me that the most likely explanation is that whoever provided that quote fails to grasp the difference between a "public right of way"...