THE latest weapon in the fight against Oxford’s congestion problems has been unveiled – electronic traffic information signs.

Oxfordshire County Council is installing six large matrix signs on the main roads into the city as part of a £1.25m scheme to speed up journeys.

The signs, costing a total of £500,000, will work in tandem with a network of more than 50 ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras to monitor traffic queues and provide up-to-date information to help drivers keep moving.

Pictures and traffic speeds from the cameras and a cluster of 12 CCTV cameras in Oxford will be beamed into the council’s transport control room, at Speedwell House, where officers will monitor traffic flows between 7am and 7pm on weekdays.

Initially, they will use the signs to let drivers know drivers whether car parks are full and warn them about accidents and roadworks.

The signs are being put up on the A40 westbound, near Thornhill park and ride site; the A44 south of Yarnton, approaching the Pear Tree interchange; the A4074 northbound near Sandford; the A420 eastbound near Cumnor; and two on the eastbound A40, one near Eynsham and the other at Wolvercote roundabout.

The signs will be tested next month, before the system goes live in the autumn.

The system has been welcomed by Keith Slater, a former chairman of the Oxfordshire Chamber of Commerce, who estimated congestion around Oxford costs business up to £500,000 a week. The chamber committee member said: “Congestion is still a big problem. We have just got to try to manage the road space that we have a little more creatively.

“I travel on the M42 around Birmingham a lot and the electronic traffic signs do have a major impact on keeping the traffic flowing.

“The more information we can provide drivers about what’s happening, and where, the better.”

From next year, the matrix signs are expected to offer additional information, including weather reports, driving conditions and estimated journey times to destinations like park-and-ride sites.

The council is also planning to create a comprehensive travel website, to give early warnings of congestion and the ability to text information to mobile phones and update vehicles’ satellite navigation systems.

The AA’s head of road and transport policy, Paul Watters, said: “Around a small city like Oxford these can be really quite successful and can cut congestion, but they really do need real-time management. If the signs are left with old information on, motorists soon learn to ignore them.”

Ian Hudspeth, the council’s cabinet member for growth and infrastructure, said: “It will be in 2010 when we can pass on yet more valuable information to motorists and that will be the time when the system fully comes into its own.”