WORK on turning a busy interchange on the A34 near Didcot into a ‘hamburger’-style roundabout is set to start this year.

Last year Oxfordshire County Council was given £5m by the Government towards the £10.6m scheme at the Milton Interchange.

Hamburger roundabouts are already used on the Oxford bypass at Heyford Hill and Green Road in Headington.

A third is currently being built at the Kennington roundabout, where the bypass meets Abingdon Road. They allow several lanes of traffic to cut through the middle of the roundabout, reducing congestion.

At Milton, traffic from the A4130 would be able to cut through the roundabout to join the A34 rather than go around the interchange.

County council spokesman Paul Smith said: “The council hopes to begin this job before the end of 2014.

“We are currently part-way through a tendering process to find a contractor.”

Up to 79,000 vehicles use the Oxfordshire stretch of the A34 every day but congestion at Milton, Oxford and the M40 junction near Bicester is a regular problem.

Over the next few decades 16,000 new jobs in the science sector are expected to be created in the Didcot area, as well as 5,500 new homes.

A total of £2m for the scheme will also come from the Local Enterprise Partnership’s growing places fund and from the county council, which is planning to use developer contributions.

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