‘HIF1’ relief road to Culham

[whole diary]

[Mark A]

It's a set of new roads from the A34 at Didcot over the Thames upstream of the Appleford rail bridge and then to the road past Culham. It also appears that what is perhaps an unintended consequence will be that it will attract traffic from the A34 heading for East Oxford. It's just got the go-ahead having earlier been taken out of the more local planners' hands.

Mark

[eightonedee]

That might not be the worst outcome in the world, as the part of the Oxford Ring Road between the Hinksey and Heyford Hill interchanges that would be by-passed is not the best. This route will also take traffic away from Clifton Hampden and its bottleneck staggered crossroad and narrow river bridge, and from Long Wittenham.

But - surely it will increase traffic on the Golden Balls roundabout at Nuneham Courtenay, which I thought was an accident black spot? There's certainly a problem with traffic joining it from the west (the route leading to this set of new roads) as visibility to the right is not good, and the alignment of the A4074 leading into it from the south means that traffic approaches at speed.

[Hal]

Does anyone know where the northern end of the new road will be?
Presumably it will be a junction with the A415 somewhere near Culham station? Or will Clifton Hampden get a by-pass?

[John D]

There is a map on page 13 of this (page 35 of the pdf)
Descriptions of route page 15-17 (pages 37-39 of pdf)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6759aec74cbda57cacd346ed/241211_A34_Combined_DL_IR_RtC.pdf

[Hal]

Thanks JohnD, very informative.

[didcotdean]

The 'concept' of a new road from the north / eastern side of Didcot to the east of Abingdon and then onto Oxford rather than its precise details has been around for decades - pre the Second World War in fact, alongside such other as yet unbuilt schemes such as a Marcham bypass.

Post WW2 there was general dithering about it between Berkshire & Oxfordshire, it being an overall priority for neither party. Fleetingly considered as a route for the A34 the version as built killed it off for about 30 years before it re-entered the 'review and report' cycle again. The last 10 years of procrastination was initially as to how it could fit in with an Oxford-Cambridge expressway.