Botley Road: Roadworks cause delays in Oxford city centre

There were delays of up to an hour on Botley Road yesterday as Thames Water closed off a lane ahead of repairs to a suspected broken pipe.

The water company failed to provide any information about the incident and no one from the water company could be seen at the site.

A shallow hole remains fenced off with plastic barriers and three-way traffic lights installed at the junction of Ferry Hinksey Road.

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Reports of delays and problems with deliveries have come in from drivers and traders, with medical appointments missed and difficulties in reaching places of work and education.

There were large tailbacks as a result of the lights with drivers queuing as far back as the junction with the A34 at Botley and back to Worcester Street in the city centre. 

Water main works taking place in Botley Road (Image: Tim Hughes, Newsquest)

The works were described as an emergency by the county council and the lights are expected to be in place until Friday.

Dan Towler, who works at Woodlands Pharmacy in Botley Road, said: "We were definitely disrupted getting to work, getting deliveries to us and I think our customers definitely have been as well.

"Our deliveries have been delayed or not come at all.

"We have had a few customers who have called and their prescriptions have been sent elsewhere because they did not want to sit in a queue for an hour."

One motorist, Marisa Grant, said she would be "avoiding the road for good now".

Another driver, Richard Day, said: "It took me another 40 minutes to get into town from Cumnor Hill."

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And Will Bayliss, who was also caught up in the traffic yesterday, commented: "Fair enough it can't be avoided but why not have someone manually controlling the lights during peak times?

"The traffic was queuing all the way to the A34 inbound and then nothing waiting to go out of Oxford."

Other motorists questioned why there appeared to be no workers while the three-way lights were in operation.

Temporary traffic lights in Botley Road (Image: Contributions)

Again, Thames Water failed to responded to the complaint.

The disruption comes as the county council and Network Rail look ahead to close Botley Road so that major improvements to the station can take place.

The work had been scheduled to start at the beginning of this year but have been put on hold.

Talks have been taking place between the rail authority, the county council and the Department for Transport to agree a new plan to close Botley Road at the rail bridge – which will be replaced.

The former youth hostel in Botley Road is set to be demolished within a month according to contractors, while the former Station Grill has already been demolished.

A spokesman for Network Rail said the water works would have no impact on the wider project taking place in Botley Road, however Thames Water failed to say whether the work was related to the scheme.

Botley Road is the main road into the centre of Oxford from the west stretching between Botley, on the Oxford Ring Road, and Frideswide Square at the junction with Oxford railway station.