MORE workers are to be brought in to combat delays caused by the discovery of a fragile electricity cable unearthed at Oxford’s Kennington roadworks.

Oxfordshire County Council has vowed the scheme to turn the Kennington roundabout on the ring road into a ‘humburger’ style junction will stay on schedule with a completion date slated for the end of November. However the exisitng contraflow on part of the Southern Bypass (A423) will remain in place longer than expected.

The council put in place a 24-hour contraflow at the end of July, between Hinksey Hill and Heyford Hill roundabouts reducing the road to one lane in each direction, on the eastbound carriageway.

It was was due to switch the system to the westbound carriageway in the middle of this month, so work could begin on the north side. The council has now said that will happen in mid-October.

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Spokesman Dominic Llewellyn-Jones said the change in schedule would not push back the overall scheme.

Mr Llewellyn-Jones said: “This situation can be accommodated within our existing timeline.”

The announcement yesterday afternoon said the changes had been made because “unrecorded” fragile electrical cabling had been discovered on the south side of the roundabout last month.

Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) had since disconnected them, the council said, although the energy firm was unable to confirm that last night.

In its statement, the council also said there had been “extreme delays” on the road system because of the works and that it was trying to improve traffic flows through the area. But it warned that motorists should still try to find alternative routes if possible.

The council added: “Work on the preparation and waterproofing of the four bridge decks between the Heyford Hill and Hinksey Hill roundabouts is taking much longer than we had anticipated.

“We are trying to increase the level of resources being employed by the specialist sub-contractors to complete this as quickly as possible and resurfacing of the bridges will begin next week.

“We are now working longer hours to recover this delay, to enable the original completion date to be maintained.

“We are also urgently discussing with our sub-contractors possible extended working hours where certain tasks allow.”

Restrictions on cars coming on and off the Southern Bypass, via Old Abingdon Road, have also now been lifted, the council said.

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