Radical plans to overhaul one of Oxford’s busiest junctions at Donnington Bridge Road and Iffley Road have been approved.

Work is scheduled to start in the summer and take four months, at a cost of £210,000.

Campaigners said the plans were “long overdue”.

Donnington Doorstep family centre manager and mother-of-two Anna Thorne said: “It’s great news. People have been calling for pedestrian crossings for many, many years, so it’s a real victory.”

In November 2006, families held a mock funeral at the junction, claiming there would have to be a fatal accident before the highways authority took action.

Ms Thorne added: “It’s never been safe for children and local residents who use the junction.

“Pedestrians gamble when they step into the road.”

Mark Chesterton, the headteacher of Larkrise Primary School, in Boundary Brook Road, said: “It’s a very dangerous junction.”

The project includes installing traffic lights at the junction which can react to queues, putting in three pedestrian crossings and crossing islands and hatched lines.

Further improvements include so-called ‘advanced stop lines’ to allow cyclists to wait and move off ahead of other vehicles and double yellow lines on each corner to improve traffic flow.

James Styring, chairman of cycling group Cyclox, said: “Advanced stop lines are invaluable because they enable cyclists to get to the front of the queue of traffic.”

Both Donnington Bridge and Iffley roads will be widened.

tshepherd@oxfordmail.co.uk