Oxford,
27
April
2018
|
15:33
Europe/London

Improvement work to start soon on Woodstock Road, Oxford

Work to repair and improve parts of a major route into Oxford will start on 8 May.

Oxfordshire County Council will begin a major resurfacing project between Oakthorpe Road to Moreton Road – a stretch that is suffering from a failing road surface.

Around £650,000 will be spent completely resurfacing the 300m stretch of road as well as carrying out drainage improvements and kerbing and footway work. The money for this work was secured thanks to a successful county council bid to the Department for Transport and their National Productivity Fund.

This work is expected to take ten weeks to complete.

In June work will start to enhance the road environment near to the old Radcliffe Observatory Quarter (ROQ) site for pedestrians and cyclists and to manage traffic through the site.

The majority of this £700,000 project is being funded by developer contributions from the University of Oxford with the remainder funded through the county council.

The improvements here will include widened footways, mandatory cycle lanes, narrow traffic lanes and upgrading of a signal controlled pedestrian crossing and the addition of two courtesy type crossings. The existing 20mph speed limit will be extended northwards to reduce vehicle speeds through the site. This work is expected to last for 12 weeks.

The county council has scheduled the two pieces of work so that they overlap meaning a reduction in the overall amount of working time and therefore disruption.

Owen Jenkins, Director for Infrastructure Delivery, said: “Although there will be disruption clearly any road resurfacing work, as well as any improvements for cycling and walking, will be broadly welcomed when they are completed.

“Woodstock Road is a really important route for Oxford and the ROQ project provides will redefine the area visually and how road users are managed.

“We have designed the traffic management to minimise the impact on residents, the university, colleges and businesses plus road users affected by these works.

“However delays are likely throughout the work and I would urge people to consider their daily route, mode of transport and time of travel and where possible consider alternatives.”

More information on the work can be found at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/woodstockroad