Road and rail users were given a boost last night when the Government approved an £88m transport package for Oxfordshire.
The Access to Oxford scheme includes a package of improvement schemes to ease the city's chronic road congestion.
One key element is the expansion of Oxford railway station. It will be extended to the other side of the railway bridge, where one or more platforms for London trains will be created.
Enhanced rail services between Oxford and Bicester will cut journey times from 25 minutes to between 10 and 15 minutes.
Access to Oxford will also see sophisticated traffic systems introduced on the A34, with real time information, variable message signing and variable speed limits.
Money will be made available to improve access to the city from the north and south, with bus lanes proposed on the Hinksey Hill slip road to speed up bus services between Oxford and Abingdon.
The Regional Transport Board, which submitted the plan to Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander, sees the package as crucial to plans to build thousands of new homes in central Oxfordshire.
David Robertson, county council cabinet member for transport, said: "This is excellent news. It represents the largest sum for transport ever handed to Oxfordshire."
Work on the Access to Oxford project would be carried out between 2011 and 2016.
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