Bicester roundabout to be scrapped and replaced with new crossroads junction

Oxfordshire County Council has been granted permission from Cherwell District Council to redevelop the A4095/B4100 Banbury Road roundabout in the north of the town.

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It is one of the key junctions along the western ring road and improvements are being made so that the road can better support the flow of traffic as more housing and developments are built in the area and encourage more walking and cycling.

The project will see the roundabout removed and a four-arm crossroads junction installed with traffic lights and three- and two-lane entries.

Roundabout set to be developed with traffic lights, three lanes, improved cycles and pedestrian access. 26/10/2021 Picture by Ed Nix

It will also have two pedestrian and cyclist crossings, which cycling action group Bicester Bike Users Group has criticised as not being enough, saying the design that was proposed prioritised vehicles over pedestrians and cyclists.

But it is happy that it was able to work with local councillors and Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member for highways Tim Bearder to iron out some safety concerns it initially had with the design.

George Bennet, chair of Bicester Bike Users Group (Bicester BUG), said: “Given the increasing focus on safety, health, efficiency, and the environment, there really should have been good crossings in all directions, but Rome was not built in a day.

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“The county highways officers explored more user-friendly junction designs than high-speed roundabouts and explored how pedestrians and cyclists might navigate it.

Plan for proposed crossroads junction on Banbury Road, Bicester. Pic by Oxfordshire County Council

"Overall, the emphasis is still heavily car-centric, but we are hopeful that this is a move towards a more balanced transport policy suitable for a healthy Bicester.”

The new junction, which is due to start being built in April 2022 and run until early 2023, will incorporate a reduced speed limit of 30mph.

Oxfordshire County Council says it will try to minimise disruption during construction and will tell residents about road works in advance to help people avoid delays.

The county council had put forward three options to the public in a consultation back in the Spring about how the roundabout could be redeveloped.

The first option was to make the junction bigger to provide space for more vehicles.

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Roundabout set to be developed with traffic lights, three lanes, improved cycles and pedestrian access. 26/10/2021 Picture by Ed Nix

The second was the crossroads junction - which has the greenlight - and the third option was to turn it into a CYCLOPS junction which is a type of signal-controlled intersection which includes a segregated cycle track.

The consultation revealed the majority of people preferred the first scheme, which the council did not choose because the preferred scheme 'increases the vehicular capacity of the junction to a similar level as option 1 and 2'.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is funding the project which has a budget of £5.5m.

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