The Opening Ceremony on 27 July clashes with one of the busiest holiday getaway weekends of the summer when traffic levels are already around 30% above average according to the latest INRIX Traffic Congestion Report.
Almost 100,000 ticket-holders are expected at the opening ceremony, with tens of thousands of visitors anticipated at the live sites at Hyde Park and Victoria Park.
This, compounded with the start of the Men’s Road Cycling Race on 28 July – which will close thousands of roads throughout southwest London and Surrey – will see congestion levels soar 33% reducing traffic speeds to an estimated 12mph.
A trial event for the Men’s Road Cycling Race in August 2011 resulted in traffic chaos, when journeys of just a few miles took several hours and some drivers were forced to abandon their cars.
Greg Hallsworth, INRIX lead scientist and traffic analyst, said the weekend has all the ingredients for a "perfect traffic storm" and will "undeniably create huge stress on the UK’s road networks".
Delays are expected to continue throughout the Games, with routes through the "core network" expected to take an additional 20 minutes.
The daily rush hour is also expected to move forward by as much as 90 minutes, with morning peak traffic hitting at 5.30am to 7am and evening peak traffic hitting as early as 3.30pm, rather than 5pm.
Lunchtimes are anticipated to be busy venues clear and refill between sessions.
However, evening traffic congestion may ease by 6pm rather than 7.30pm as people head to meeting places to watch events on TV.
It is hoped 80% of visitors to the Olympic Park will alleviate the strain by making use of two park and ride sites with capacity for 18,000 vehicles in Essex and 9,000 in Ebbsfleet.
Yet the ticket-only sites could cause further hold-ups for road users with misplaced tickets resulting in tailbacks that could spark a domino effect on the M25.
The advice to all commuters is to build travel schedules around quieter periods where possible.
"Despite this generally being a quieter time of year, Londoners need to be prepared for a huge volume of traffic in the City that they are unlikely to have experienced previously," said Hallsworth.
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