A MAJOR revamp of the Botley interchange has been approved.

The number of lanes and priorities on the West Way interchange will be altered in a bid to improve traffic flow.

A key change to one of Oxford’s busiest traffic hotspots will be to remove a lane that allows Oxford-bound traffic to turn right into North Hinksey Lane East by McDonald’s.

An Oxfordshire County Council report says: “This is a potentially hazardous manoeuvre and interrupts the outward flow of traffic on the Botley Road from Oxford city centre.”

West Way vehicles will instead be able to turn into North Hinksey Lane, on the other side of McDonald’s, making it a two-way street.

The report says: “Opening North Hinksey Lane West to two-way traffic will reduce the hazard, as the above traffic from the slip road will turn right into West Way and then immediately left.”

Yet some residents fear this will push more traffic into North Hinksey Lane and make the McDonald’s a “drive-through” restaurant.

Botley resident Angela Mackeith said: “It is one thing to keep traffic flowing freely, but there are some places where it doesn’t need to flow freely because people live there and it isn’t a main road.

“The roads in North Hinksey are little ones and we are only stopped from being a roundabout by the fact that the western end of North Hinksey Lane is not two-way.”

North Hinksey Parish Council branded the work “unnecessary” and said the two-way junction would be “more difficult for pedestrians and cyclists to cross”.

But county transport boss Rodney Rose, who approved the £5,000 plan on Thursday, said it would improve traffic flow.

He said: “I have seen the computer modelling of this scheme and it has to go ahead.”

The loss of the right-turn lane on the Oxford-bound West Way means there is now room for three lanes in the Botley direction.

The left hand lane will continue ahead and the other two will turn right into the A420, which leads to the roundabout for the A34.

The left hand lane heading towards the city, by Seacourt Tower, will be left turn only instead of left turn or straight turn.

The right hand lane will be for Oxford bound traffic only.