Residents and visitors along Woodstock Road in Oxford can enjoy enhanced public spaces and better conditions for cycling, walking and wheeling as £3.2 million of road safety and active travel improvements along Woodstock Road are now complete.
The Oxfordshire County Council project, funded by the UK government’s Housing and Growth Deal, has delivered a series of highway improvements along Woodstock Road, from Wolvercote roundabout to St Giles.
Councillor Judy Roberts (pictured, fourth from the right), Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Place, Environment and Climate Action, said:
“I am delighted to see the beautifully designed improvements on Woodstock Road completed. Not only is it a visual improvement, crucially it’s safer for pedestrians and cyclists. This much better accessibility is part of our plan to give people genuine options to use sustainable ways of travelling on one of the major roads in the city. And to top it off, it is all looking lovely.”
The active travel improvements include:
- New and improved side road crossings, with wider pavement space; ‘at level’ shorter crossing distances for people walking and wheeling; and increased gradient of ramps for vehicles entering the side roads between and including Bevington Road and St. Margaret’s Road.
- A new parallel crossing on Woodstock Road just south of Bevington Road.
- Extending the off-road cycle path on the western side of Woodstock Road between the junctions of Frenchay Road and St Margaret’s Road.
- A new full-time bus stop clearway on the east side of Woodstock Road just north of the junction with St Giles.
- Local relocation of a marked parking bay (limited stay parking) outside Belsyre Court to accommodate an informal pedestrian crossing.
The scheme was designed by the council’s principal highways maintenance contractor, M Group. The work has been shortlisted for two awards in the annual Highways Magazine’s Highways Awards – active travel scheme of the year and small project of the year – with the results to be announced in September.
Craig Buzzard (pictured but largely hidden, fourth from the left), Senior Project Manager, M Group Civil Projects, said:
“It’s been a privilege to work collaboratively with Oxfordshire County Council to deliver a scheme of real significance to the local community. The project introduces safer and wider footway crossings to enhance access into Oxford city centre; improvements we hope will be warmly welcomed by both pedestrians and cyclists.
“The scheme also includes 215m² of landscaped areas and achieves measurable carbon savings through careful material selection, which reflects M Group’s dedication to delivering infrastructure that is not only functional but also environmentally responsible and community focused.”
(Pic: Oxfordshire County Council)
