THE massive crack that has shut a road between Oxford and Abingdon will cost about £1m to fix.

But county council bosses say the work will not be completed until the winter, about a year after the A4183 Oxford Road was shut due to a landslide.

The road was closed on December 20 last year, after subsidence cracked the asphalt between Hinksey Hill and Bagley Wood, forcing drivers to use other routes.

A detailed ground survey has now been completed and work to repair the road will start next month.

Bob Johnston, Kennington and Radley county councillor, has been lobbying the council to complete the repairs as soon as possible as drivers have been using Kennington Road, through Kennington, as an alternative route.

He added: “This is a key artery on the road network and it has taken too long to repair.

“The residents of Kennington have been suffering, because the village has been used as an alternative route, and Kennington Road and The Avenue are in a poor state, with extra traffic taking its toll.

“There are some times in the day when I find it hard to get my car out because the road is so congested.

“A traffic survey completed earlier this year showed there are an extra 4,000 cars a day using Kennington, so there could be thousands of extra vehicles using the A34 as well, which is at its design limit.”

Highways maintenance staff visited the barriers close to the entrance of the Westwood Hotel, Hinksey Hill, on Friday to ensure that cyclists and pedestrians could not get through.

“Some people are ignoring the warning signs and pushing past the barriers,” said one worker.

Mr Johnston, a former Oxford Brookes University lecturer who lives in Kennington Road, added: “It’s likely that high rainfall during the winter undermined the road quite spectacularly and in a briefing from a senior highways officer on Monday, July 8, I was told repairs would cost about £1m, and the aim is to finish the work by Christmas.

“Following the survey of the A4183, thousands of tonnes of soft soil will have to be moved.

“It costs about £3,000 to repair a pothole measuring about three square metres, so an awful lot of potholes could be fixed for the price of repairing this road.”

Mr Johnston added that repairs would be complicated by the presence of telecommunications cables beneath the route.

A member of staff at the Westwood Hotel, Hinksey Hill, said: “We’ve lost some passing trade and would like the work to be completed as soon as possible.

Peter Biggs, 68, a former maintenance worker from Grundy Crescent, Kennington, said: “It’s difficult for residents at the moment for all the extra traffic – people will be pleased when the work is finished.”

County council spokesman Marcus Mabberley said: “Work
on reconstructing part of the Oxford Road through Bagley Wood is expected to commence in August.

“It will involve strengthening the relevant bit of embankment to allow the highway to be reconstructed and opened to traffic.

“It is anticipated at this early stage that the road will be reopened in the winter. The scheme is expected to cost in the region of £1m.”

Mr Mabberley added that the cost of the survey of the collapsed road, completed earlier this year, would be included in the repair bill.

He said funding for the scheme would come from the council’s capital highways maintenance programme budget, and added: “The decision regarding council tax levels for 2014-15 will be made in February.”

The county council has saved £92m between 2011 and 2013 and has approved savings of £74m between now and 2017.