Commonwealth Games travel management announced as Queen's Baton continues voyage

The strategies for venues in Birmingham have been published by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), Birmingham City Council, the Commonwealth Games Federation and the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) four months before the start of the games.

With more than one million spectators expected to come to the region, the plans for Perry Barr, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham City Centre and the Southern venue cluster of Edgbaston Cricket Stadium and Birmingham University have been published to view on a special website.

The plans for Sandwell, Wolverhampton, Dudley and Cannock Chase will be announced in the next few weeks.

Each plans shows the specific areas where roads will be closed, where vehicles will not be allowed to stop and where permit-only access is needed for each venue, such as Arena Birmingham for gymnastics and Smithfield for 3x3 basketball, 3x3 wheelchair basketball and beach volleyball.

Every venue will also have its own bespoke traffic management measures, which are designed to increase safety around venues and allow residents and businesses to access their own properties wherever possible.

At the launch event for the Birmingham plans at the WMCA headquarters in Birmingham City Centre, a strategy for making the games the most sustainable through public transport were also announced.

TfWM executive director Anne Shaw had been part of the planning process for the travel from the winning of the bid for the games in December 2017 and said it was about improving the transport links within the region and reducing the amount of cars travelling to events.

She said: "Our plans are designed to make it as easy as possible for spectators to leave the car at home and use public transport to get to events.

"We've been working with the organising committee to understand all the different events that are happening on what day and all the different venues that in play across the region so we can understand the numbers and then plan appropriate measures on the transport system as well.

"We've been looking at the measures in place to strengthen the existing public transport systems, so extending services, more frequent services and bespoke services such as dedicated shuttle buses and park and ride venues."

Another public transport announcement at the briefing was the news that ticket holders will be able to travel on public transport during the day of their event for free on production of their ticket.

It means that ticket holders travelling to Leamington Spa for the bowls, to Coventry for Rugby Sevens and up to Cannock Chase for the mountain biking events will be able to travel for free on buses, trams and trains throughout the day.

Ms Shaw said postcards would be pushed through the doors of people living near venues or on routes that will be closed for a day for events to advise of where to plan their travel on the day, and information will be available online.

She said: "There will inevitably be some disruption at some busy times, but these plans have been carefully designed to keep that to a minimum.

"Ensuring our region can keep moving when a million visitors arrive this summer will be key to a successful Commonwealth Games."

The unveiling of the first set of travel plans comes as the Queen's Baton arrived in New Zealand on March 12 and spent four days travelling the nation, coinciding with Commonwealth Day on March 14.

The Baton will next travel to Australia for four days, before heading across the Pacific Ocean to Guyana and Belize.

To see the travel plans, go to birmingham2022.com/getset/.