A MORNING of traffic chaos has sparked fears that businesses could be left out of pocket by 16 months of roadworks in north Oxford.

Traffic ground to a halt on the major routes into the city yesterday morning when the £10m major roadworks to the Wolvercote and Cutteslowe roundabouts got underway.

Long queues built up on the A40 in both directions towards the notorious bottleneck as well us up the A44 and A34, with it taking up to 20 minutes to travel a mile.

Worried managers fear they will be hard hit by the works, with customers avoiding traffic hotspots or staff stuck for hours in traffic.

Private cab company Townhouse Executive Travel owner Nickie Rogan said three fares had to be cancelled yesterday because 20-minute journeys were taking two hours.

Mrs Rogan, who operates the business from her home near Woodstock, said because the firm charges per mile not by the minute long journeys left it out of pocket.

She added: “Our drivers are just trapped instead of working.

“We do not know how much it will lose us. I cannot have a driver sitting in a car for two hours.”

One of the worst hit areas was Kidlington, where motorists trying to get on to the A34 and A44 were stuck in traffic from the village centre all the way through to Summertown.

Staff at Central Hair and Barber in Kidlington fear the large queues will put customers off coming into the village for a haircut.

Hairdresser Claire Ring added: “I do think it will get busy and I do think there will be a lot of problems with traffic.

“It probably will affect business to a certain degree. We don’t want to be losing trade because because people are avoiding coming through Kidlington.”

The epicentre of the traffic centred on the two roundabouts, which are the only routes for vehicles getting in and out of north Oxford.

Roads in and out of both roundabouts were reduced to one lane while workers introduce new pedestrian crossings, widen the A40 and A44 approaches and install new traffic lights.

However, Oxford Bus Company spokesman Phil Ashworth said that passengers had not been too badly affected on the first day because of bus lanes on approach to the two roundabouts.

He added: “Traffic around the Wolvercote and Cutteslowe roundabouts has been very heavy on the first morning of the roadworks.

“The situation is likely to change as the afternoon rush hour gets underway and motorists leave Oxford to make their way home.”

The improvements to the two roundabouts are part of a series of schemes which have already seen the A423 Southern Bypass at Kennington and London Road, Headington, upgraded.

Other work includes new off-road cycle lanes, reduced speed limits on the A40 and A44 approaches to the two roundabouts, resurfacing the roads and new lighting.

Temporary speed limit reductions will be in place for the duration of the works, but the A40 will be closed a limited number of times during off-peak night-time hours.

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