A TRANSPORT expert has warned changes to two major North Oxford junctions could make congestion problems worse.

Independent consultant Mark McArthur-Christie said installing traffic lights at the Wolvercote and Cutteslowe Roundabouts would slow vehicles and cause longer tailbacks.

His comments come as work on the £10m improvement scheme is scheduled to continue for another 12 months.

Oxfordshire County Council is widening roads to increase capacity, lowering speed limits on approaches to the roundabouts and introducing traffic lights, which it hopes will improve traffic flows.

But Mr McArthur-Christie said: “The nature of traffic is the more you interfere, the slower it gets.

“Putting traffic lights in at Wolvercote and Cutteslowe will make things worse, not better, and lower speed limits are really not what these junctions need.

“Inevitably, you will also have space that is not being used efficiently because there will always have to be a safety margin between when the light is red and when it is green.”

Work to overhaul the Wolvercote and Cutteslowe roundabouts started in July.

Since September, workers have been focusing on the central reservations of Cutteslowe Roundabout and the verges of its eastern A40 approach.

At Wolvercote Roundabout, work is being concentrated on the south verge of the western A40 approach until December.

The county council has argued installing lights at the junction will allow it “to do more to coordinate traffic, improving the flow through the junctions and across the wider highway network”.

On its website it said: “More priority can be given to Woodstock Road and Banbury Road, which are also key bus routes.

“Extra capacity at the junction means pedestrian and cycle crossing facilities can be provided without causing undue delay to traffic.”

Mr McArthur-Christie, former chairman of the Oxford Group of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said the new road layout at Frideswide Square, in the city centre, was a better system.

He added: “It is a shared space – a proven way to make conditions better.”

These spaces had more “ambiguity”, he said, meaning drivers were more likely to carefully observe their surroundings.

The Oxford Mail approached county council transport boss David Nimmo Smith for comment but he did not respond.

Last month transport bosses said the scheme was running to schedule, but its 18-month timeframe has been heavily criticised.

In an update about the work on its website, the county council said the work was “not as simple as it may seem” and that more road restrictions would be needed for faster progress.

It said the sites were “constrained on all sides by residential and commercial properties”.

And it stated: “We have also considered longer hours, night work and longer weekends but the impact on local residents would not be acceptable.”