Sir – Botley Road has long been notorious for its traffic jams, but a seemingly endless series of planned and unplanned roadworks in the general vicinity have brought delays to unprecedented levels.

Fewer people are using the buses when it has become faster to walk (I passed the same bus four times recently while walking back to Botley). With more delays in the future from traffic accessing the new Waitrose store it is clear that Botley Road is no longer fit for purpose.

As the sole highway connecting the city to the west, there is a clear need for a by-pass. The recent decision and needs of Oxford University to develop their sites at Osney Mead suggests how this might be achieved.

A new road is needed from the A420/A34 junction, serving the many commercial outlets to the south of Botley Road, joining up with these sites at Osney Mead and then crossing both the river and the railway on a new bridge to a junction with Oxpens Road. It would help to solve the problem of how the many new staff and customers are going to reach the new Westgate retail development. The increases in the values of the sites served should easily pay for the cost.

The new road would also provide a cheaper route for the county’s proposed East-West tramway/rapid transit route, avoiding the disruption and cost of relocating services along the Botley Road, and would provide direct access to the new rail station at the Oxpens that so many believe is now needed.

It is time for the Local Enterprise Partnership to seek funding for the design and construction of the new road, if necessary from the Government’s Growth Fund.

Dr Andrew Pritchard
North Hinksey