The County\u2019s active travel improvement works on Woodstock Road<\/a> are now complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These are<\/em> improvements \u2013 mainly for the benefit of pedestrians, but also for cyclists. Cyclox welcomes them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Slowing down motor traffic at side-road entries makes those junctions safer for pedestrians and cyclists. The road design at these junctions gives effect to the new Highway Code (2022)<\/a>, which makes it clear that turning traffic should cede to pedestrians. It sends a signal to drivers (and for that matter cyclists) that when turning into side streets, they are crossing pedestrian space \u2013 not the other way round. Over time, these improvements should happen to all side-road entries in the city \u2013 starting with worst cases of gaping, \u2018car-brain\u2019 design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So its two cheers for the Woodstock Road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us be clear, however. In active travel terms, these improvements have not<\/em> fixed the Woodstock Road. It remains a problem to be solved. Woodstock Road is a barrier to safe and inclusive cycling in the city. It is an unhappy and confusing mix of cycle lanes on the pavement, bus lanes that switch sides, and a long stretch into town with no cycling provision at all. On one of the main arterial routes into Oxford, this is a disgrace. The photos below give examples of why we are giving this just two cheers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is also an active obstacle to the County Council meeting its targets to reduce car journeys, and serious injuries and fatalities, on our roads. In 2025, the Council is still painting white lines on the pavement and pictures of bikes on the road \u2013 provision that requires cyclists to either \u2018pretend to be a pedestrian\u2019 or \u2018pretend to be a motor vehicle.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n The junction with St Margaret\u2019s Road. This crossing point used to be 17 metres across, its sweeping curves allowing vehicles to turn in at 30 mph. Now it is 6.5 metres and they have to slow to 10\u201315mph. Much safer for pedestrians, and people cycling north on Woodstock Road.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n The new cycle \u2018track\u2019 between St Margaret’s Road and Frenchay Road. It goes up and down at every driveway, is obstructed by posts, bus shelters, pedestrians and lacks priority over side streets. It would be severely sub-standard as a one-way cycle track, but as a two-way track it is farcically bad.<\/p>\n<\/div> As the Oxford Clarion<\/a><\/em> recently reported, a visionary \u2013 and costed \u2013 scheme to overhaul Woodstock Road<\/a> exists \u2013 one that would transform this key route into and out of Oxford into a road that gives equal priority to all forms of mobility. That scheme urgently needs to be built. The tragedy is that, if and when it is built, the improvements that have just been installed will all have to be ripped out. It is a tragedy of short-term planning and of budgets for sustainable travel that continue to be piecemeal and inadequate to the challenge of building safe, clean and inclusive transport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zebra crossing: Ian Loader By Ian Loader and Danny Yee<\/p>\n The County\u2019s active travel improvement works on Woodstock Road are now complete. Cyclox welcomes some of these, but cycling in Woodstock Road is still dangerous and confusing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12200,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26,139],"class_list":["post-12193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-active-travel","tag-cycling-in-oxford"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12193"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12201,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12193\/revisions\/12201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Slowing down turning traffic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Still a problem to be solved<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Side](\"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/St-Margarets-Rd_Oxford-Pedestrians-Association-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>The good<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The bad<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"White](\"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Cycle-track_Danny-Yee-1-1024x962.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nShort sighted and short term<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Photo credits<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
St Margaret\u2019s Road: Oxford Pedestrians Association
Cycle track: Danny Yee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"