Oxford: Traffic filters will launch when Botley Road reopens

Botley Road has been shut to traffic at the rail bridge since work began and is due to reopen in October.

A county council spokesman said: “The county council aims to start the traffic filters trial this autumn, when Botley Road reopens.

“Early preparatory work started this week near the filter points.” Graham Jones, of traders’ group ROX (Backing Oxford Business), urged the council not to launch the traffic filters until six months after Botley Road was reopened at the rail bridge. He said: “Botley Road reopening will be good news for traders in the Botley Road area, but we now face the prospect of living with six new traffic filters in the run-up to Christmas, which will be bad for business.

“We don’t want the traffic filters at all, but if they are to be introduced the council should delay their introduction by six months – Oxford needs as long a breathing space as possible to see if the city can recover.” Mr Jones added that ROX and Oxford Business Action Group were collecting funds to mount a legal challenge to the filters in the hope of securing a public inquiry. Network Rail engineers are on schedule to complete the scheme in October, and are now installing covers for pipes and cables under Botley Road.

On March 9 and 10 it will remove a footbridge in preparation for replacing the main railway bridge in July. The new bridge will provide space for an additional railway line through the station, increasing capacity. A Network Rail spokesperson said: “Our programme at Botley Road is on schedule, with all our preparation work progressing well for the replacement of the bridge this summer.

“We will be removing the footbridge overnight between March 9 and 10 and a replacement is due to open at the end of October, along with the road. “We’d like to thank the community for their continued patience during our work, which paves the way for upgrades to Oxford station, the wider railway and road, cycle and pedestrian routes.” The footbridge is currently open and will remain open until its removal on March 9 and 10.

The replacement of the rail bridge is due to take place between July 27 and the early hours of August 1. Network Rail has said the station improvement scheme has gone over budget after a inverted brick arch was found under Botley Road rail bridge, adding “significant additional challenges and complexities”. This delayed the scheme by several months and meant the short-term reopening of the road had to be abandoned.