Motoring Discussion > Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London.	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: henry k	Replies: 30

Mon 13 Oct 14 08:58   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - henry k

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-29567296 Eight months to update the A40 / A420, the main route into the city from the M40. Parts of the surface of the A420 have been very poor or years but this work is much more than resurfacing. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 10:36   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - VxFan

Travelling in and around Oxfordshire is a complete nightmare at the moment. The current roadworks at Kennington / Hinksey Hill where they're building a new hamburger roundabout is taking forever and a day because they are restricted by the number of hours they can work because they mustn't disturb the nearby gipsy / travellers camp at Redbridge Hollow. It took me nearly ¾ of an hour to get off the A34 at Hinksey Hill on Saturday. I was queued right back to the North Abingdon junction. The A417 is closed at Challow Station while they replace the bridge. Another hamburger roundabout is soon to start on the A34 at the Milton Interchange. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 11:03   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - Zero

>> Another hamburger roundabout is soon to start on the A34 at the Milton Interchange. Ok I'll bite (<- see what I did there?) whats a Hamburger roundabout. Reply to this message | Report message       1

Mon 13 Oct 14 11:11   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - CGNorwich

Not something to relish. Allow the other traffic to ketchup. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 12:30   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - Runfer D'Hills

Bound to get some people into a pickle. Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Mon 13 Oct 14 at 12:34 Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 11:36   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - Runfer D'Hills

They're a burger to get round. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 12:15   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - Zero

>> They're a burger to get round. Get it wrong and you've got a shake had your chips I guess. Last edited by: Zero on Mon 13 Oct 14 at 12:16 Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 11:42   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - VxFan

>> Ok I'll bite (<- see what I did there?) whats a Hamburger roundabout. Basically it's a roundabout you can drive through the middle of as well as going around its perimeter. "It was given this name because it resembles a cross-section through a hamburger when viewed from above" First one to be built in Oxford was at the Headington, then at Heyford Hill. www.headington.org.uk/news/items/2006/green_road.htm www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-18909630 www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-22726935 Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 11:47   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - BiggerBadderDave

www.headington.org.uk/news/items/2006/green_road.htm That last one is a Tennis-ball-roundabout. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 12:28   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - WillDeBeest

Puzzled as to why Milton needs to be hamburgered when it is already a split-level junction with the roundabout below the A34. Isn't the point of a hamburger that it's an upgrade to an ordinary single-level roundabout that allows greater throughput on the main road? Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 12:48   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - VxFan

>> Puzzled as to why Milton needs to be hamburgered Traffic during peak times coming out of Didcot is a nightmare. Presumably having a straight through road for the A4130, and slip roads off to the A34 in all directions will ease that conjestion. EDIT - Here's a pdf explaining the reasoning for it. tinyurl.com/o3kohq8 - www.oxfordshire.gov.uk Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 13 Oct 14 at 12:52 Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 18:30   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - WillDeBeest

I see. More like this sign then - most of it anyway. m.123rf.com/photo-6486472_no-fast-food.html First saw the symbol in France. Trust the French to make a hamburger look like a macaron. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 9 Feb 15 21:29   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - henry k

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-31294217 A34 Milton Interchange works: Concerns over delays Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 11:05   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - WillDeBeest

For those of us unlikely ever to drive on the moon, Oxford City Council was kind enough to offer the A420 through Headington as a free simulator. Disappointing to hear that it won't be available any more. Reply to this message | Report message       1

Mon 13 Oct 14 11:37   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - Crankcase

Nice line. Now appropriated. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 18:37   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - PhilW

A34 a nightmare this morning. Had car to deliver to Basingstoke. Set off from home at 6ish from E Mids for two and a half hour journey allowing for half hour delays to get there by 9am. Traffic busy but OK but satnav said to turn off S-bound M40 at Middleton Stoney/Bicester (J10) then via Weston on the Green instead of M40/A34 to get round Oxford because of delays at M40/A34 Junction (J9). Cruised down to A34 past the Heyfords and Weston. Then joined A34. 90 minutes later got down A34 as far as A423 - about 8-10 miles? After that turn-off the traffic flowed freely. No accident to hold up traffic - just density of traffic. Satnav had originally said I would be at Basingstoke at 8.30 but got there at 10.20! Still, not as bad as Friday morning. Again, nice early start to go to Stockport via A50. Unfortunately a truck shed its load of steel pipes between Uttoxeter and Stoke. I and several hundred other drivers sat there for two and a half hours before Police allowed us to do a 3 pointer and drive back towards Uttoxeter. Mind you, had a nice drive up through Peak District to Stockport rather following the majority via the old A50 to Doveridge/Stoke/M6/M56 etc. Getting to know Peak District well! Had quite a few jobs recently up to Manchester/Stockport/Bury/Bolton and find I'm returning via Buxton/Bakewell areas. Quicker than M6 (J19-16 always a nightmare) and nice countryside and added bonus points with MrsW when I bring home a genuine Bakewell Tart (don't........!) P Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 18:48   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - Armel Coussine

I don't have a Satnav. They seem to send you hither and thither to little effect. Doubtless they sometimes have their uses, but I know the way anyway. If I often do the journey I may even try to avoid congested stretches. But in the South you're going to hit some slow stuff sooner or later, caused as often as not by wimpish mimsers. You have to converse quietly with your passenger, or rant madly to an empty car damaging your vocal chords and amour-propre in a single, elegant operation. Funny stuff driving. :o} Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 18:54   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - Runfer D'Hills

No idea how it works but the sat nav in my car can "see" traffic problems ahead and re-routes you to avoid them. Clever blokes dem Germans like eh? Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 19:15   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - Duncan

>> No idea how it works but the sat nav in my car can "see" traffic >> problems ahead and re-routes you to avoid them. Clever blokes dem Germans like eh? >> I have called the German Lady in my LEC Brunhilde. Does yours have a name? Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 19:30   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - Runfer D'Hills

Helga Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 19:12   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - PhilW

"I don't have a Satnav. They seem to send you hither and thither to little effect. Doubtless they sometimes have their uses, but I know the way anyway." Yep, I largely agree, but bear in mind that I am going to destinations I don't know a few times a day. For the bulk of most journeys I know the majority of the route but it's often the last few miles (or even last few yards!) that satnav is useful. I always look at maps before setting off and avoid what I know to be "trouble spots". I often find that sitting in a queue or two is no worse timewise than following "hither and thither" routes suggested by satnav. However, I agree with runfer below that sometimes the satnav can spot traffic probs ahead and save some time. Unfortunately sometimes they are unavoidable! P Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 19:21   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - Armel Coussine

>> bear in mind that I am going to destinations I don't know a few times a day. Yeah PhilW, I've been there you know, well before Satnavs existed. Of course these days if you have to find a lot of places you will certainly have Satnav as well as the map. It's a great modern tool as any fool can see. It's these modern London minicab drivers who have turned me off Satnav as a thing. Their eyes are glued to this silly little screen in some silly place. That's why they drive like ***** ***** swerving all over the place, slowing the traffic to a crawl and using stupid routes. Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 13 Oct 14 at 21:38 Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 19:22   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - PhilW

PS "rant madly to an empty car damaging your vocal chords" I never bother - after all what can you do if stuck in traffic? Especially if it happens several times a day! Britain's roads get worse and worse - can't cope with the volume, especially in the SE. Another dreadful time last week was getting off M25 onto M23 - another hour or two lost. Only relief was a pretty young lady who rear-ended me ( no, no, no ......don't even think about it!!). Luckily, I was driving a car with a towbar! Not a mark! Though her bumper was not a pretty sight! I almost breathe a sigh of relief if given jobs that take me North of Preston or Newcastle-upon-Tyne. P Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 13 Oct 14 19:26   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - Kevin

>A34 a nightmare this morning. >Had car to deliver to Basingstoke. It's a very popular tourist destination so you can always expect alot of traffic heading in that direction. If you'd mentioned that you were visiting I'd have shown you the sights, I was at home while the car was at Harwoods for a fettling. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Oct 14 18:59   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - PhilW

"Harwoods" Is that the Jag/Land Rover dealer? If so I was next door at Toyota! P Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 14 Oct 14 19:33   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - Kevin

>Is that the Jag/Land Rover dealer? If so I was next door at Toyota! That's the one. Quite a few of the main dealers have based themselves in that area. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 27 Oct 14 19:22   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - WillDeBeest

I wished I'd remembered this today when planning my route to my appointment in Headington. Finally got there 25 minutes late and nearly 50 after leaving the M40 at J8. Consultant was understanding but it must be a right pain for anyone who lives or works there. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 27 Oct 14 21:31   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - VxFan

You're lucky that it's half term this week, else you would have been a lot later than that. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 17 Nov 14 01:43   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - henry k

I went from London to Oxford Sunday late afternoon arriving at Magdalen Bridge about 6pm. I had looked at the alternative routes and suggest to my daughter that she should try one such route a week ago. The simplest appeared to be ...exit at J7 onto the A329 towards Wallingford and then a right to Oxford. I tried this route and it was very simple ( on the A329 turn right at the first sign to Oxford. B480 ) You arrive on the southern bypass at the Cowley MINI works and then straight across to the city or left to Redbridge Park & Ride. Nearby postcode: OX1 4XG. I have no idea re traffic at Cowley during working hours. Leaving Oxford at about 10:30 pm it was straight back by Headington. There may be a more direct route to Oxford via Wheatley but it looks a bit rural :-) Last night ( Sun) Some unexpected heavier motorway traffic and trucks at the M25/ M3 junction.. No access to M3 south so all others diverted to J1 of the M3 ( Sunbury ) and a U turn back onto the M3 to go south and under the M25. Signs were not very good. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 18 Nov 14 08:20   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - WillDeBeest

Thanks Henry. My experience is that traffic around Cowley is not too bad in the afternoon rush, perhaps because there isn't a shift change at that time. It gets slow towards the roadworks at the Sainsburys junction at about 6 o'clock on the ring road (Cowley being about 4), which is my preferred route back towards Wallingford and home. The B480 looks like a good route around that, rejoining the Wallingford road via Warborough. Bit longer but keeps you moving. Anyway, I'm done there for the time being. Months till the next follow-up. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 12 Jan 15 13:33   Oxford .Disruption on the main route from London. - VxFan

>> Another hamburger roundabout is soon to start on the A34 at the Milton Interchange. Starts today. According to the sign posts I saw last night, it's going to take something like 55 weeks to compete. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-30775167 Reply to this message | Report message