Headley Way junction closures

As Access to Headington work continues on Headley Way, closures have been announced at a series of junctions which are going to be reconfigured. Each closure will last for three days. In chronological order:

  • Fortnam Close – closed from 4 March
  • Woodlands Road (East) – 11 March
  • Woodlands Road (West) – 18 March
  • Franklin Road – 25 March
  • Copse Lane – 8 July
  • Coniston Avenue – 8 July
  • Bowness Avenue – 11 July
  • Derwent Avenue – 22 July

Note the long gap between late March and early July. This is presumably while the civil engineering work on the hill itself is carried out.

Access to Headington Road Closures

As @HeadingtonNews tweeted earlier today, there are going to be road closures around the Headley Way/Cherwell Drive junction over the next three weeks while the roads are resurfaced following the reconfiguration work around the junction.

The official notice in the paper doesn’t make it clear exactly when the roads will be closed. An e-bulletin from the County Council dated 12 October gives more detail, saying that the closures will be overnight between 7pm and 6am, though not necessarily every night.

Work continues at the Marsh Lane/Cherwell Drive junctions and the John Radcliffe Hospital access. The traffic management here continues to be narrow lanes with give ways to keep traffic moving with off-peak lights used as necessary.

Planned night time road closures for surfacing
When: 15 October to 9th November
Time: 7pm – 6am
Where:
PHASE1: Marsh Lane completely closed (except residents access) between Headley Way and Ashlong Drive for 5-9 days, Headley Way on traffic lights;
PHASE 2: Marston Road completely closed (except residents access) between Headley Way and Oxford Road for 5-9 days, Headley Way on traffic lights;
PHASE 3: JR Access on temporary lights, after Phase 1&2 are complete.

The bulletin goes on to say:

Marsh Lane junction
Construction work has progressed well at the Marsh Lane / Cherwell Drive junction.

The site team has completed the major road widening, traffic signals ducting and footpath work on Marsh Lane and the Northern sections of Cherwell Drive. They have also completed various road crossings for ducting and drainage into the new traffic islands in Cherwell Drive and Marsh Lane.

Over the next few weeks the team will continue working on the southern side of the junction outside the fuel station and adjacent to the Marston Road junction. This work includes traffic signal ducting, road widening, drainage and footpath construction.

The team has constantly tried to minimise the disruption to traffic by removing traffic lights whenever possible. However, the construction of the central islands has required the need for traffic lights in order to complete the work safely.

John Radcliffe junction
The team has finished the traffic signals ducting in the North West corner of the junction and have been constructing the road widening and footpath surfacing along the Southern side of the junction which is around 150m long.

They’ve worked well with the gas company to complete the final section of a large gas main improvement scheme at Staunton Road under the same traffic management. We have also requested that they complete some works ahead of schedule at the London Road end of the project; this is now complete.

So if you travel in the area after 7pm through to 6am be aware that your journey may be disrupted any day from now until 9 November. The official diversions are quite long, especially when Marsh Lane is closed: the diversion for this is via the Banbury Road and the A40.

Access to Headington – Headley Way latest

At the exhibition of the Headley Way Access to Headington plans on Thursday it was confirmed that work will start at the bottom of the hill on Monday 22 January. This part will last three weeks while they take out the roundabouts. Traffic lights will control the traffic.

Immediately after, on 19 February, work will start at the JR entrance. This will also last three weeks with traffic light control. Once these two jobs are finished, which should be by Sunday 11 March, work will switch to the main parts of the road. Work will be done in a similar way to The Slade with narrow lanes and two-way working most of the time.

During the first six weeks there is bound to be bad congestion. There has already been publicity of the JR advising people to allow two hours to reach the hospital and find a parking space, and the bus companies have issued similar warnings about delays to services using Headley Way. After six weeks things should get easier. The work is scheduled to take nine months, which brings it to some time in October.