Oxfordshire road closures you need to know about ahead of Christmas
Oxfordshire Christmas road closures you need to know about (Image: Newsquest) Oxfordshire's motorists will have a number of road closures to avoid on the National Highways network heading into Christmas. National Highways is responsible for maintaining motorways and major A-roads, so closures of smaller roads will not be included in their schedule.
The latest expected works list, with notes from National Highways, shows the following closures in place this week: o A34, from 9pm September 11 2023 to 6am March 19 2024, slight delays (under 10 minutes): A34 both directions Botley, Narrow lanes on all slip roads for construction work. o A34, from 8pm September 11 2023 to 6am March 23 2024, slight delays (under 10 minutes): A34 both directions Botley, carriageway, slip road and lane closures for structures work.
o M4, from 8pm January 10 2023 to 6am January 17 2024, slight delays (under 10 minutes): M4 eastbound, junction 12 to junction 11, Lane closures for M4 Smart Motorways. o M40, from 9pm December 22 to 6am December 23, slight delays (under 10 minutes): M40 southbound, junction 7 to junction 5, Lane closure for maintenance works. National Highways said it had removed more than 1,000 miles of roadworks on England's motorways and major A-roads, meaning 98 per cent of its network would be free of cones over the festive period.
The RAC estimated 13.5 million leisure journeys by car would take place across the UK between Friday and Sunday, up 20 per cent on the three days before Christmas Day last year. Road congestion was likely to peak on Friday as drivers embarking on leisure trips competed for road space with commuters and business traffic. Motorists were advised to travel before 11am or after 6pm if possible to reduce the chance of being stuck in long queues.
Likely traffic hotspots on the M25 identified by transport analysis company Inrix include: clockwise between junction 7 (for the M23/Gatwick Airport) and junction 16 (for the M40/Birmingham); and anti-clockwise between junction 17 (Rickmansworth) and junction 12 (for the M3). Story continues Other motorway stretches expected to see long queues included the M1 north from Woburn, Bedfordshire, to Daventry, Northamptonshire, and the M6 south from Wigan, Greater Manchester, to Stafford, Staffordshire.
Network Rail is preparing to launch its festive engineering works, which will cause disruption to journeys. London Paddington will be closed between Sunday and December 27, meaning no mainline trains will serve Heathrow Airport during that period. London King's Cross will also be closed on Christmas Eve.
Outside of the capital, an engineering project near Southampton will cause some disruption to services, as will work to build the new Cambridge South station.
No trains will operate on Christmas Day, while a very limited service will run on Boxing Day.
Meanwhile, millions of people are heading to airports to catch flights to spend Christmas overseas.