'Spectator pens' to be set up on London's bridges as one million people set to greet Olympic torch

 
Matthew Beard25 June 2012

Transport chiefs have been forced to set up new crowd control measures for London’s Olympic torch route after the relay attracted larger crowds than expected on its nationwide tour.

“Spectator pens” will be set up around bridges over the Thames so the public can watch the torch flotilla approaching — and some bridges will be made single lane.

Transport for London commissioner Peter Hendy said the torch would attract more than a million spectators — as many as turned out for the Diamond Jubilee pageant.

Last week organiser Locog announced that the relay had attracted four million people by the halfway point of its 8,000-mile nationwide journey.

On the final day of the relay the torch will set out from Hampton Court and travel east along the Thames, arriving at City Hall at 1pm. From there it will have no further public role until it appears near the Olympic stadium for the opening ceremony.

It will “disappear” on the request of police and transport chiefs, who want the crowds to disperse from central London so they can clear the routes to Stratford for 30,000 VIPs travelling to the opening ceremony.

Mr Hendy said: “On July 27 the torch goes up the river in the morning and probably the crowds will be as big as the river pageant. It arrives at City Hall at 1pm when it disappears, which is good because we have to clear the Embankment because we have got to get 30,000 VIPs out to stadium and back. If we get anything like the crowds we get in the rest of country London is going to be alight with people in various areas. One story is ‘massive disruption’, the other is ‘great joy erupts’.”

The day before the torch will be in central London, taking in landmarks such as Buckingham Palace and Downing Street. Mr Hendy said: “In the morning it will be in south-east London and in the afternoon north London, so don’t minimise the effects of that on the traffic — it will be fairly major. If you are going to get half the population of the boroughs out it’s going to be a big thing — also on the Tube and buses.”

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee affected 13 bridges which were closed to traffic for at least part of the day. Seven of the 13 bridges were closed to allow the public to watch the pageant to pass underneath.

IOC president Jacques Rogge said: “The torch will intensify in London, it will be crazy. We’ve had to find ways of coping with the huge numbers — it’s difficult for the runners to maintain the right pace because there are so many people blocking the roads.”

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