WORK to build a relief road which could ease congestion on a key route through Bicester could start later this year.

Builders will move in to start work on the South West Bicester housing development in March.

But councillors said construction of the road, to ease pressure on the clogged A41 and Oxford Road, might not begin until September.

The relief road would allow drivers passing between the north and south of the town to avoid the congested section of Oxford Road, at the entrance to the Bicester Village shopping centre, by diverting them on to the A4095 around the western edge of Bicester.

Councillors also want peak-time traffic lights at the A41 roundabout, where Oxford Road meets Boundary Way.

An Oxfordshire County Council spokesman said: “The planned A41 to Howes Lane link road was agreed as part of permission for the South West Bicester development, which we understand is expected to begin in March.

“The developer has undertaken to provide the road as part of this development.”

The road would be built to the south of the 1,600-home development adjacent to Middleton Stoney Road.

Developer Countryside Properties would only say that it hoped to start work on the site this year.

The move comes after more than 4,000 people joined an online campaign calling for action over traffic problems on roads around Pingle Drive, which forms the entrance to Bicester Village and the Tesco supermarket, off London Road.

At a traffic advisory meeting last month, town councillors pushed for rush-hour traffic lights at the A41 junction just south of Pingle Drive, after the town suffered gridlock between Christmas and New Year when shoppers flocked to the sales at Bicester Village.

Town and district councillor Carol Steward said lights at the roundabout could control motorists turning right towards Aylesbury, Bicester Village and Tesco and give drivers heading towards the town centre the right of way.

The idea is being studied by county council highways officers.

If approved, a trial could take place during the Easter holiday period.

Mrs Steward said: “The sensible approach to me would be to put lights up and see what happens.

“It’s down to the county council to form a strategy. They have gone away to discuss it.

“Traffic coming up from the motorway just crowds the roundabout and stops everything.”

Bicester mayor James Porter said: “There’s probably not one solution but a series of steps that need to be taken to relieve some of the congestion.”

A working party, including Bicester Village, Countryside Properties, Tesco and Wyevale Garden Centre, has been set up to look at additional ways to reduce traffic problems.