A40 roadworks cause chaos (From Witney Gazette)

A40 roadworks cause chaos

12:10pm Friday 17th March 2006 in Witney

ROADWORKS which started on the same day as a major sporting event were suspended after they caused major tailbacks.

Drivers faced long delays along a 15-mile stretch of the A40 after roadworks, with manually-controlled traffic lights, were set up at Eynsham on the same day as the opening of the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

With heavier than usual traffic because of race-goers travelling to the annual festival, and the signals at the Witney Road junction in Eynsham allowing only a few cars through at once, drivers travelling in both directions were stuck in massive queues.

A spokesman for AA Roadwatch said westbound traffic slowed to a crawl of 5mph, with delays stretching 11 miles back to the junction with the M40. Traffic travelling eastbound was also badly affected, with cars bumper to bumper from the Eynsham junction all the way to Witney.

Oxfordshire County Council finally removed the lights and stopped work at the site for the time of the festival.

Chris Child, spokesman for Stagecoach, said drivers on the number 100 route from Oxford to Carterton, which stops at both Witney and Eynsham, reported major delays because of the heavy traffic.

Diversions to the service within Eynsham were put in place to make up time, although none of the service's bus stops were missed.

Mr Child said: "The 100 was actually running with about a 20- to 30-minute delay, which was partly due to the Cheltenham Gold Cup, but also because of the lights in place there. The suspension of the works obviously helped us run the service."

The roadworks to improve the Witney Road junction into the village began at the end of January.

Expected to be completed in the beginning of April, the project will also introduce a safety scheme to prevent drivers turning right out of the nearby Tesco service station.

But drivers using the A40 regularly will continue to face delays after that, as ongoing work on the stretch between Cutteslowe and Headington is expected to go on for about a week.