THE WORST disruption to the Wolvercote and Cutteslowe roundabouts is over according to the county council's deputy leader.

Rodney Rose admitted the £9m work was not "sexy" but would still be worthwhile for motorists.

The project to widen the A40 and A44 on the approach to the roundabouts and install traffic lights has now been 80 per cent completed after more than 60,000 man hours, according to Oxfordshire County Council.

The council's project supervisor Isaac Webb said problems with utilities such as water pipes and electrics had "frustrated" the project.

The 18-month-long scheme had been criticised by drivers who claimed there were large periods of inactivity on the site while they were sat in traffic.

County Council deputy leader Rodney Rose said: "We have kept a significant part of the roads network open throughout the work.

"If we closed all the road and roundabouts down we could have done it much quicker but it would have caused huge disruption.

"It doesn't look sexy, we are not building a bridge over it or anything, but there has been a lot of work going on which perhaps people haven't seen."

He added: "We are in the home straight so people need to just grin and bear it."

Night-time work is now under way as well around the Wolvercote Roundabout to complete a resurfacing phase of the project.

Work to reconstruct the middle of the Cutteslowe Roundabout has resumed and is expected to be completed in September.

Following a review the whole scheme will be completed six weeks earlier than originally planned in October.

But project sponsor for Oxfordshire County Council Isaac Webb said utilities such as water, electrics and gas, had held up the work.

He said: "It was a frustration we couldn't get the utilities companies on site until we had finished the initial work and diverting some of the pipes took some time.

"Also workers doing that were not always visible to those driving past.

"Improving traffic around the A40 and into Oxford is so vital and we are confident it will ultimately improve people's journey times."

He added: "The worst of it is over now and as we get closer to completion in October we should see much less disruption as the final phases are completed."

The scheme will also see an extra lane on the A44 southbound and on the A40 from Eynsham approaching the Wolvercote Roundabout.