Relief road bid impresses minister

PLANS for a new relief road to reduce congestion to the northwest of Oxford have impressed a senior Tory minister, it was claimed last night.

Council chiefs in Oxfordshire met with Minister of State for Business and Enterprise Michael Fallon about their City Deal application on Wednesday.

A link road connecting the A40 and A44, to take traffic away from the Wolvercote roundabout, has been put forward as part of a bid which sees Oxford pitch itself as a world leader in hi-tech and scientific business. It is part of Oxford’s bid to gain City Deal status, which offers devolved powers from central Government and private and public funding.

County council leader Ian Hudspeth said Mr Fallon had welcomed the proposals. Mr Hudspeth said: “He was very impressed that all the local authorities are working together to drive this bid forward. He was also impressed with the way we’re working with the Local Enterprise Partnership and linking in with the universities.”

Mr Hudspeth believes the bid will open the way for a package of congestion-beating projects, including new slip roads on the A34 at the Chilton and Milton junctions, along with the new A40/A44 link. The relief road would be built west of the A34.

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Oxford is in the running for City Deal status with 20 other cities.

Comments(6)

H.J.Harris says...
11:19am Fri 11 Jan 13

I hope this isn't just another pipe dream, this sort of scheme has been suggested in the past but nothing came of it.
Bypassing the roundabout will not cure the congestion on the overloaded A40 between Witney and Oxford but it will surely improve traffic flow.

West Oxon Webwatcher says...
12:05pm Fri 11 Jan 13

I agree with HJH. This proposed road would help to ease the A40 congestion west of Oxford. However with the WODC recently announced local plan proposing the construction of 5,500 additional homes in West Oxon of which many of the occupants will be heading east to Oxford and its high tech jobs, the congestion will end up at least as bad as today. What is needed is a proper A40 Oxford by-pass, proposed in 1987 but abandoned by the government when it was responsible for the A40 as a trunk road in those days.

BigAlBiker says...
12:06pm Fri 11 Jan 13

I always thought it best to keep cars flowing and not stick traffic lights and roundabout everywhere, so if the council want to ease the congestion lose the Cassington lights and dispose of the roundabout at Eynsham, traffic would then flow to the dual carrigeway a lot easier.

Simples.

PJay says...
12:27pm Fri 11 Jan 13

I'm not sure how impressed the senior Tory minister was but I'll be much more impressed if it ever gets built!

Phian says...
12:41pm Fri 11 Jan 13

BigAlBiker wrote:
I always thought it best to keep cars flowing and not stick traffic lights and roundabout everywhere, so if the council want to ease the congestion lose the Cassington lights and dispose of the roundabout at Eynsham, traffic would then flow to the dual carrigeway a lot easier.

Simples.
I'm not too sure what the good people of Cassington would think out that, or those who wish to travel between Hanborough and Eynsham.

Grunden Skip says...
1:52am Sat 12 Jan 13

Phian wrote:
BigAlBiker wrote:
I always thought it best to keep cars flowing and not stick traffic lights and roundabout everywhere, so if the council want to ease the congestion lose the Cassington lights and dispose of the roundabout at Eynsham, traffic would then flow to the dual carrigeway a lot easier.

Simples.
I'm not too sure what the good people of Cassington would think out that, or those who wish to travel between Hanborough and Eynsham.
You can't put a couple of minor B roads ahead of a major A road, And if the Tin Hat had been built 20 years ago, then we wouldn't have this problem now. This A40/44 link was proposed about 7 years ago, and never got off the drawing board, expect this one to go the same way.

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