Any major sporting event, such as the eight matches that Cape Town will host during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, will result in inevitable transport disruptions.

Getting 68 000 spectators to the Green Point Stadium during 2010 will therefore be a major logistical challenge, and one that is already being planned by the City of Cape Town, the provincial government of the Western Cape, and other roleplayers.

Cape Town residents are used to the annual road closures and short-term inconvenience as a result of the Argus Cycle Tour, Two Oceans Marathon and regular cricket and rugby matches at Newlands Stadium, and this will be on a similar scale.

The team working on the transport operations plan recently gave a detailed presentation to the 2010 Project Team on their progress.

The plan to deal with the influx of spectators, players and FIFA officials to the stadium, as well as others who will be watching matches live at fan parks, has two components – one for the city and stadium precinct area, and one for the province, to bring spectators from outlying areas and other towns efficiently into the city for the matches.

The process to improve rail transport and build new infrastructure (such as major road upgrades, including Hospital Bend and the Koeberg Interchange), is already underway.

The first draft of the transport operations plan must be submitted to FIFA by June and that is on target, says 2010 transport manager Ron Kingma.

“We are working on a series of plans that get refined as we get closer to the event. The end product is actually a detailed specification of what happens at each intersection along the identified transport routes – from access control measures to how many traffic officers are deployed.

“It goes from a transport operations plan to individual venue transport management plans, and once we have that in place, we test them by running an event in the stadium prior to 2010, and once we have seen how this test pans out, we do a final refinement and adjustment,” he explained.

"All travel users are taken into account, and accommodated in some way or another, in terms of the management plans, it's similar to the Argus Cycle Tour or major sporting events at Newlands – there will be road closures for limited periods only."

While the exact details of the plan are still being worked on, vehicle access is expected to be restricted in certain areas of the city centre and Green Point on match days, but this will not paralyse the city centre as some have feared, as there will be alternative routes and transport arrangements in place, with sufficient warning. 2010 matches will mostly take place in the late afternoon and evening, and will not affect morning rush hour traffic.

The proposed temporary closure of some city streets and Somerset Road will allow players and officials to make their way to the stadium on time, ensure security, and allow the free movement of spectators.

Public transport will be made available to transport spectators to and from the stadium, and those who work near the stadium will be encouraged to use park and ride facilities or public transport on match days, to prevent traffic gridlock. One of the main legacy projects from 2010 is going to be a safe and efficient public transport system.