I READ with trepidation the update on the plans for improvement work at the Wolvercote and Cutteslowe roundabouts, published in the Oxford Mail on Wednesday, June 10.

Along with thousands of local commuters, I have been dreading yet another period of delay and frustration as our road infrastructure is restored to cope with the ever-increasing traffic flows.

Resigned to the need to live with these necessary interruptions, I balance the long-term benefits with the short-term major inconvenience.

And restricting at the same time the only major routes into Oxford from the north will surely be the biggest inconvenience yet.

Its impact will be even greater while major work at Frideswide Square and elsewhere still persists until the year end.

I gloomily looked at the details of the project and its impact on traders.

I brace myself for the months of crawling through the city.

I rationalise this with the improvements that will result once the work is complete.

And so for me, and no doubt all road users, my overriding concern is not the detail, but how long will all of this take?

How deflating, then, to come to the paragraph, which states somewhat minimally, “the work is set to take double the length of time previously estimated, with a finish date in February revised to at least October”.

I can only conclude that the original project planning was woeful, that the costs involved may also double, and that local commuters and businesses will be further discouraged from doing business in our city.

CHRIS WILLIAMS
Canterbury Road
Oxford