Drayton Road has long been one of Abingdon’s most congested routes.

A sign on Drayton Road warned of gas mains replacement works with multi-way traffic lights “for two weeks from 4th August.” The fact that the works are still ongoing has caught some people off guard, raising concerns that the delays might continue and get worse after schools return on 2nd September.

However, One.Network lists the schedule from 4th August 10:30 until 29th August 23:59 — nearly four weeks in total — so the works should finish before the new school term.

You can check the latest updates on the One.Network website.

It all started so well this morning with traffic flowing smoothly along West St Helen Street. But by lunchtime, a queue of traffic had slowed to a crawl.

The usual school run chaos is over for a few weeks. Although term officially ends tomorrow (22nd July), many local schools are having inset days on the 21st and 22nd. With staff training underway and students at home, the school year is effectively over.

Even so, by midday, Radio Oxford was reporting traffic problems — not across Oxfordshire, just here in Abingdon. Temporary traffic lights on Ock Street were causing long tailbacks, holding up drivers trying to get out of the town centre via the High Street, and all its tributaries. Radio Oxford said it added twenty minutes to the journey from Culham, and fifteen minutes from West St Helen Street.

One man sitting in his car told me, ‘I’ve lived here since 1978, and the traffic just keeps getting worse.’

By the afternoon, things had quietened down as the temporary lights were switched off. But the lights might be back over the next couple of days.

Enabling works are well underway on the Lodge Hill A34 interchange upgrade. Since the earlier blog post announcing the start of construction, more progress has been made – especially on the works depot and car park. This area will eventually link a new roundabout on the A4183 (Oxford Road) with a new slip road onto the southbound A34 towards Newbury, helping to ease traffic through Abingdon.

Further vegetation clearance has taken place near the existing slip road from Oxford. This is in preparation for one of the two new roundabouts. It will connect the slip road from Oxford and the new slip road towards Newbury with the A4183.

There has been some clearance for the other new roundabout. It will connect the new slip road from Newbury and the slip road to Oxford with the A4183.

The main construction work — including the two roundabouts forming the new ‘dumbbell’ layout and south facing slip roads — is due to begin in late summer 2025. As part of the project, the access road to Egertons will be re-routed.