Motorists were today warned to avoid central London this summer amid mounting concern about congestion during the Olympics.
City Hall will declare the capital a no-go zone for non-essential car journeys and is putting its weight behind much starker public messages about transport during the Games.
There is concern that current advice from Transport for London and Games organiser Locog to plan ahead will be ignored by the public.
A final decision on the wording of a no-go zone will be considered at an Olympic transport summit hosted by Mayor Boris Johnson this week and attended by TfL and Locog.
A senior official said there was a need to “tighten up the messaging” about how the public should travel — beyond the current advice to “Plan Your Games”.
Garrett Emmerson, TfL’s chief operating officer, surface transport, said: “Roads in central London and around venues will be exceptionally busy during the Games. The Temporary Roads Changes tool that we’ve launched today means roads users can see where there will be changes to the road network, allowing them to plan ahead.”
Previous host cities have urged motorists to avoid driving. Athens and Beijing resorted to bans.
Severe road congestion could plague the Games — there is a 109-mile network of lanes for Olympic vehicles and The Mall will close for four months.
Separately Mr Johnson admitted there was a danger of general overcrowding — particularly during the first weekend of the Games around the free road cycling events.
He said: “The evidence is that the number of visitors will be on high side rather than low side. It’s going to be a big Games rather than a ghost-town Games. There will be huge benefits from having people here spending money in our city; on the other hand it’s possible to have too much of a good thing.”
