Much to my dismay I have discovered that from the new year, the Greenwich Foot Tunnel will officially be closed for 10 MONTHS! The reasoning behind this epic annoyance is the same for why the East London tube line was closed down (as soon as I moved into the area of course)...The 2012 London Olympics.
The tunnel is used by around 1.5 million people a year & proves as an important tourist attraction and a vital link for cyclists (trying to save the planet and money, nothing wrong with that) at a rate of 250 bikes per hour at peak times! As greenwich.co.uk reported earlier this year, The Tunnel is to be given a “substantial refurbishment” running until March 2011 and costing a mega £11.5 million.
This means a number of things for me, it either doubles the distance of my commute to Canary Wharf, or will start to cost me £5 travel each time as I cannot ride with ease any longer. More importantly, either way the time it takes me to get there will be nearly tripled! As an esteemed colleague of mine would say, "das baree jokes ya know". My conclusion is that London is going to become more and more of a logistical nightmare the closer to 2012 we get. Of course many would argue it already is, with hundreds of London underground closures crippling tourist journeys every single weekend.
