Oxford’s Botley Road will be closed to through traffic from Tuesday 11 April to October 2023 to allow Network Rail to begin work on its redevelopment of Oxford station and rail upgrade. A second period of closure to through traffic will take place from March to October 2024. This is to enable the bridge to be replaced and highway improvement work to take place.
Access for residents and businesses
Local residents’ access to their homes will remain at all times, with some diversions in place.
Local businesses on Botley Road will remain open and accessible to vehicles
via the west end of Botley Road only.
Travel guidance
Motorists who usually use Botley Road to get into the city are advised to use one of the city’s park and ride sites. The closure is expected to increase traffic on other main routes into the city, such as Abingdon, Banbury and Woodstock Roads.
Until the end of September 2023, passengers can take advantage of a combined
park and ride ticket at a reduced price. This covers both parking and return bus
travel at a rate of £4 for a car with one adult, or £5 for a car and two adults. With both options, up to three children under 16 can travel for free. Buses will turn around just before the rail bridge, allowing passengers to continue their journey to the railway station and into the city centre on foot. An accessible bus service called the Botley Road Comet will operate to and from the city centre from Osney and Botley. It will run every hour between 10am and 2pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It will pick people up from outside Tumbling Bay Court, next to West Oxford Community Centre and the Seacourt Bridge car park, and will travel into the city centre via Woodstock Road and Jericho. This additional service will be run by the team that operates the Oxfordshire Comet.
Cyclists and pedestrians will have access to the railway station and onwards into the city throughout the work. Cyclists will need to push their bikes through a small section of the roadworks site.
Electric scooters can be used to travel across the works area, although riders will need to push their e-scooters through a small section of the roadworks site – like cyclists.
Trains will operate as normal. Any temporary impact on services will be advertised well in advance.
Emergency services
Emergency services are working to put mitigations in place during the closures.
Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue will be moving a fire crew from Oxford to Eynsham to ensure a timely response to the west of Oxford during the daytime and reach
affected areas within their 11-minute response time. Current arrangements will
remain in place at night through the Eynsham on-call crew and the Rewley Road fire station.
Further information
Travel guidance: www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/oxfordstation
Redevelopment of Oxford station: networkrail.co.uk/oxfordshireconnect FAQs about the project: Oxfordshire connect FAQs (networkrail.co.uk)