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Planning for action
Page 18
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Hugh Sumner, the Olympic Delivery Authority's transport director, is determined to put hauliers' minds at rest over the potential disruption when the cream of the athletics world fight it out in 2012.
Words: Roger brown / Images. MaLcoirn Case-Green
LONDON'S ROADS are set to be .ransformed for a two-month period luring the summer of 2012, when the UK hosts the Olympic Games.
The Olympic Route Network (ORN) 232 sections of existing roads across :he capital has been designed to give priority during the morning and :vetting peak times to athletes, officials md members of the media travelling Lo venues such as Stratford, Wembley Ind Wimbledon.
Restrictions are due to come into place in an as-yet-unconfirmed 60-day period between July and September 2012, for the durations of the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games.
From the perspective of the road transport industry, there is the worry that the plans will have an adverse affect on daytime access to shops for delivery drivers, as well as disrupt other services such as street cleaning and refuse collection.
However. Hugh Sumner, Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) transport director, is confident his organisation can address the concerns expressed by hauliers over the restrictions that may damage their businesses.
Sumner says most of the ORN will "not be readily visible, will be short in duration, and will only apply on a number of days':
"The Olympic vehicles will operate on bits of the network. not all hours of the day." he reveals. -Other restrictions are more long-term, but the important thing for London is that we have to get the athletes where they need to be on time." According to the ODA:
• The route network will cover less than 2% of London's roads.
• About 0.5% of roads will become temporary dedicated Olympic lanes although only on dual-carriageway offside lanes.
The ODA is due to create a set of traffic regulation orders early next year that will set out the restrictions to be introduced. Sumner says: "It vyill largely be a case of putting in a few 'no left turn' signs here or tweaking a few traffic lights there.
-Me orders have a timescale of two years, so there will be time for any potential problems to be addressed and amended orders to be introduced before the Olympics Games [take place].
"1 know it seems a long way off at the moment, but our message to transport firms is that you need to be thinking about what you are going to be doing in 2012, and make sure any issues can be sorted out before then."
That is no mean feat for operators if the routes prove to be as restrictive as in Beijing last year, where large sections of roads were closed off to delivery companies. Sumner, however, says this won't be the case. "The London approach will be much more sophisticated than previous cities': he ventures. "In Beijing, they decided to have a situation where whole lanes were closed off between one and three months, We'll do it differently. On the core stretches, the Olympic lanes will basically be glorified bus lanes "There should also be no restrictions placed on roads leading to the venues outside of London, such as Broxbourne (the Hertfordshire location for the white water canoeing)."
Concerns and issues
The Brewery Logistics Group raised the issue of how drinks firms will be able to deliver to pubs on Olympic lanes or carry out night-time deliveries because restrictions still apply in many areas because of the noise created by throwing kegs out of a cellar.
Shops want to know if they need to hold more stock during the Games, and, if so, will they be able to take deliveries from alternative locations, such as the rear of a building rather than the front?
Sumner adds: "With regards to the brewery people. we understand their concerns, and we will address them.
-We are starting early, which gives us three years to talk to businesses
"We will make sure that the pubs don't run dry and that the restaurants still serve steak and chips."
The ODA is conducting an ongoing consultation with organisations such as the Road Haulage Association and the Freight Transport Association into how the freight and logistics sector will operate during the summer of 2012.
Sumner, who led Transport for London's team as part of the capital's bid for the Games in 2003, has also been the director of passenger services at London Underground.
He says the ODA is working with other major London infrastructure projects such as Crossrail, the Victoria Station redevelopment programme and Thaineslink upgrade, to minimise disruption for delivery companies.
During the Olympics, all planned road works will be re-scheduled by utility companies, although emergency works will continue to take place.
Sumner concludes that the 2012 Olympic Games in 2012 will offer a "huge opportunity for transport firms" due to the extra deliveries of food, drink and clothing needed for athletes, officials and fans, as well as refuse collection.
"Businesses are set to have an outrageous summer, but we also have to make it a great summer for visitors.
"This is an ideal opportunity for the road transport industry to really stand tall and proud and make a great contribution to what will, undoubtedly, be a spectacular occasion." • • The ORN is available on a map. Log on to www.roadtransporIcom/orn
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