Olympic Way, often incorrectly known as Wembley Way, is the road that links Wembley Park tube station and

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

in Wembley Park, London, England. Thousands of spectators walk along it to every event as the road leads directly into the stadium. The road is an easy access from the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

system at Wembley Park to the stadium, and travels in a north–south direction. The road also allows pedestrians an easy access to London Designer Outlet from the station. The road was constructed for the 1948 Olympic Games, held at Wembley Stadium. Wembley's owners discussed plans for improved access to the site with London Transport, Wembley Council and the Ministry of Transport, and were willing to build and pay for a new £120,000 access road. Work started on the new road in mid 1947 and the 500 yard long and 45 feet wide carriageway was completed ahead of the 1948 summer games. Olympic Way was constructed partially by German prisoners of war still in the United Kingdom. Originally they were intended to be used for picking up refuse during the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

, but their duties were changed due to criticism in the press; one media outlet stated that "It is fair to assume that the Ministry of Labour will think very hard before intending for a slave squad to operate quite so publicly and before quite so many overseas visitors." As a result of a labour shortage, German prisoners of war were used in constructing Olympic Way instead."Olympic Way built by German Prisoners of War"
BBC News, 15 March 2010 File:Wembley Way.jpg, Olympic Way looking down from the

File:Wembley Stadium down Wembley Way.jpg, New

looking south, down the new Olympic Way, January 2007 File:Wembley Twin Towers.jpg, Olympic Way before the

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

semi-final at Euro 96 File:Wembley Stadium map.png, A map of Wembley Stadium in relation to Olympic Way It was pedestrianised by Brent Council before the Euro 96 football tournament matches at Wembley.

References

Roads in London Wembley Transport in the London Borough of Brent {{London-road-stub