Olympic Traffic Pushes London to the Brink

After years of preparation, a slow drum roll of publicity and a steadily building mix of nerves and excitement among residents, things finally began in earnest today.

Monday marked the official start of London’s Olympic travel chaos. With athletes starting to arrive at Heathrow, the first section of the Olympic Route Network, linking the airport with West London, was shut down to all but official Olympic traffic this morning. The alleged result was a 32-mile back-up on the highway for traffic approaching the start of the Games Lanes. Even on good days this highway’s entry to London is a bottleneck – it connects London not just with Heathrow but with all Southwest England and Wales – so taking a lane out of action turns it into something more like an hourglass.