MAJOR roadworks due to start in Oxford’s Iffley Road on Monday have been postponed for a week.

Oxfordshire County Council said that work to improve one of the city’s key arterial roads will instead begin on May 16.

The council said the delay was due to contractual issues.

The scheme is expected to signal the start of months of gridlock in and around Oxford, with motorists bracing themselves for a “nightmare” summer of snarl-ups and further problems as work continues for most of next year.

Some fear the Iffley Road delays will be compounded by the scheme to remodel the Heyford Hill roundabout, now under way near the Sainsbury’s supermarket on the ring road.

The first phase of the work in Iffley Road, between The Plain and Henley Road, will run until March next year, with a four-week break over the Christmas and New Year period.

The second phase, from Henley Street to Donnington Bridge Road, is expected to follow on immediately and is due for completion at the end of November next year.

The project will see the road dug out and resurfaced, along with installation of new drains and kerbs, repairs to pavements and the installation of a zebra crossing near the junctions with Percy Street and Daubney Road to help pupils at SS Mary & John Primary School, which has two sites either side of Iffley Road.

While work is under way, parking will be suspended, temporary traffic lights put in place and bus stops moved along parts of the road affected by the improvements.

The section of the road between The Plain and Circus Street is too narrow for work to take place while traffic goes past.

As a result, the road will have to be closed for up to four weeks in August. Some side roads will also be affected.

Alan Woodward, secretary of the City of Oxford Licensed Taxi Cab Association, expressed anger that work will happen between 7am and 7pm, from Monday to Friday.

He said: “It’s just ridiculous how long this is going to take.

“I can’t see why they can’t work at weekends and bank holidays to get it finished quicker.

“Working just on weekdays means almost doubling the time. You go to other cities and you will see work at weekends.”

The work would also force more traffic on to the already busy Abingdon and Cowley roads, he said.

Rodney Rose, the county council’s cabinet member for transport, said: “We have got to do this work to upgrade the road. There is no choice. But we cannot do a scheme like this without some aggravation.

“I don’t think it will be too bad. A lot of work has gone into cutting the disruption as much as possible.

“We are doing our damnedest to keep Oxford moving.

“At Heyford Hill every effort is being made to keep carriage closures to a minimum.”