Oxfordshire Local Transport Plan 2011-2030 County Council Draft – April 2011 _____________________________________________________________________ Appendix A – Detailed discussion of inter-urban corridors. Oxford-Banbury Description A1.1 This corridor heads north out of Oxford, along the A4260/A4165 from Oxford. It accommodates significant movements between Banbury, Kidlington, and Bicester and between these settlements and Oxford. At the Kidlington roundabout (A4260/A4165 junction) the corridor is joined by traffic from the A34 heading to Oxford and Water Eaton Park & Ride. It is the predominant road route between Kidlington and Oxford (to Cutteslowe Roundabout and then into the city centre via Banbury Road or to East Oxford via the A40). A1.2 Kidlington is extremely well served by bus services to Oxford and around 30% of commuter journeys between the two settlements are made by bus (2001 census data). These services are supplemented by services every 20 minutes from Bicester, which leave the A34 at Gosford and serve nearby stops. A1.3 Peak time journeys on services from Kidlington to central Oxford take around 30 minutes, which is competitive when compared to the car. As a result of the good bus priority, off-peak services are only 10 minutes quicker; journey times are lower due to fewer passengers and shorter dwell times in off-peak periods. A1.4 Train services run non-stop every half hour throughout the day between Banbury and Oxford, taking approximately 20 minutes. These are supplemented by five or six local trains per day, calling at Tackley, Heyford, and Kings Sutton and taking approximately 30 minutes. Journey times to central Oxford compare well with the car, particularly from Banbury, but the lower frequency from the villages makes their rail service a less attractive option. Challenges/Problems A1.5 Congestion is a problem at a number of locations. These include the approaches to Kidlington Roundabout (particularly southbound and westbound during the morning peak and northbound in the evening peak). This is caused by tailbacks of southbound traffic exiting the roundabout, rather than the roundabout itself. Traffic exits the roundabout slowly as a result ______________________________________________________________ Page 1 of 28 Appendix A Detailed discussion of inter-urban corridors Oxfordshire Local Transport Plan 2011-2030 County Council Draft – April 2011 _____________________________________________________________________ of queues or because drivers anticipate a queue at the Water Eaton Park and Ride junction (the junction is not visible over the brow of the A34 and rail bridge). The approach to the Water Eaton Park and Ride junction also experiences congestion because traffic on the A4165 is stopped to enable buses to cross the junction, and to enable northbound traffic to access the park and ride. Cutteslowe roundabout (on the northern part of the Oxford Ring Road) is congested at peak-times (southbound in the morning, northbound in the evening) and traffic queues build up on the A4165 approach to the roundabout. However, the length of queues at Cutteslowe roundabout is limited because southbound traffic is held up on its approach to Cutteslowe roundabout by delays at the Water Eaton junction. During the evening peak there are frequent northbound queues on the A4165, particularly at the junction with the A4260 (Kidlington Roundabout). Occasionally there can be short intervals of queuing just north of Cutteslowe roundabout, which can leave traffic struggling to exit the roundabout, further reducing west-north and west-east traffic flows on this section of the ring road. This is partly due to lack of bus lay-bys and the presence of a pedestrian crossing on the northbound section of the A4165 close to Cutteslowe Roundabout. A1.6 Bus priority south on the A4165 into Oxford is good for much of the route between Kidlington and Oxford, with a continuous southbound bus lane commencing 350 metres before the Kidlington Roundabout to Cutteslowe. Minor delays can be caused by the sheer volume of buses, where buses picking up passengers block the bus lanes for non-stopping services, since most of the stops do not have lay-bys. A1.7 In addition, destinations in south and east Oxford are not accessible without a change of bus and a five minute walk across the city centre. The exception to this the Park & Ride service to the JR and Churchill hospitals which runs about every 15 minutes during the day from Grovelands via Garden City, Kidlington, Water Eaton and Summertown. A1.8 National Cycle Network Route 51 runs between Kidlington and Oxford, a distance of about 4.5 miles (7km). Current problems with cycling in this corridor include the following: ______________________________________________________________ Page 2 of 28 Appendix A Detailed discussion of inter-urban corridors Oxfordshire Local Transport Plan 2011-2030 County Council Draft – April 2011 _____________________________________________________________________ difficulties crossing at the Water Eaton Park & Ride site; narrow shared use paths; intermittent provision for cyclists; poor surfaces on some shared paths; wide side roads to negotiate, such as at Five Mile Drive; conflicts with buses, particularly in bus lanes; and difficulties negotiating the Wolvercote and Cutteslowe roundabouts, whether on road or pavement. Live Work Total Car Bus Train Cycle Work Trips Oxford Kidlington 716 527 120 0 38 Kidlington Oxford 2842 1584 972 6 187 Total: Oxford – Kidlington 3558 2111 1092 6 225 Oxford Banbury 170 137 3 15 0 Banbury Oxford 729 571 30 92 15 Total: Oxford – Banbury 899 708 33 107 15 Table 1: Numbers of Work Trips between Kidlington, Banbury and Oxford, taken from 2001 census. Strategy A1.9 In 2008 Chiltern Railways proposed a new station at Water Eaton with direct services to Oxford, Bicester and London Marylebone. In terms of door-to-door journey time between Kidlington and Oxford it is still expected that the bus journey will be quicker than the rail journey. However, it is likely to be attractive to those making longer distance journeys and to residents of Kidlington currently starting rail journeys at Oxford station. A1.10 Water Eaton station has potential to attract rail passengers bound for London from north Oxford, Carterton, Kidlington, Yarnton, Eynsham and Witney, for whom Oxford Station (or Hanborough) are currently the best rail options. Extra commuter traffic to Water Eaton generated by the station has the potential to cause increased peak-time congestion on the A4165, as well as on the A40 up to the Cutteslowe roundabout. To help mitigate the risk of increased congestion from car journeys to the new station, bus services and cycle routes will need to provide good access to the site, particularly from settlements to the west of Oxford along the A40. A1.11 Whilst a good north-south bus connection is already provided along the A4165, new or improved services may be needed to ______________________________________________________________ Page 3 of 28 Appendix A Detailed discussion of inter-urban corridors Oxfordshire Local Transport Plan 2011-2030 County Council Draft – April 2011 _____________________________________________________________________ link Witney and Water Eaton, as an alternative to driving. The issue of eastbound A40 traffic will be considered as part of proposals for improving transport in Oxford’s Eastern Arc, as mentioned in the Oxford Area Strategy. Cycle routes between the Water Eaton site and Oxford and Kidlington would also benefit from improvement, so that cycling to the station from north Oxford and Kidlington is a realistic and attractive option. We will make this a priority in the development of Water Eaton Parkway. Oxford-Bicester Description A1.12 Corridor 2 runs north-east from the northern edge of Oxford, towards Bicester and the M40. The A34 is the key inter-urban route on this corridor. A1.13 The A34 is a trunk road managed by the HA, providing a direct link between the M40, M4, M3 and south coast. It is designated a ‘National Route’ and carries high volumes of freight traffic between the south coast ports and the Midlands. Journeys to Oxford from the north east also use the A34 north of Oxford, with strong connections to Milton Keynes, Northampton and further afield to Cambridge, none of which can easily be accessed by train. A1.14 The A34 has an important local role as well as accommodating longer distance journeys, being the predominant road route between Bicester and Oxford. (The dual carriageway road continues beyond M40 Junction 9 to Bicester as the A41). Traffic from the wider Bicester area also joins the corridor at various junctions on the route, in particular at Weston-on-the-Green. The A34 also caters for the majority of journeys between Banbury and Oxford, which travel via the M40 and A34, a much quicker route than the alternative route via the A4260. A1.15 Although the predominant flow in the corridor is tidal (towards Oxford in the morning, away from it in the evening) the A34 carries many longer distance journeys in both directions all day. There are also significant numbers of off-peak journeys to Bicester Village (a large retail park just south of Bicester town centre), particularly during weekends and Bank Holidays. ______________________________________________________________ Page 4 of 28 Appendix A Detailed discussion of inter-urban corridors Oxfordshire Local Transport Plan 2011-2030 County Council Draft – April 2011 _____________________________________________________________________