CALLS have been made for the resurfacing of one of Oxford’s main roads to be brought forward due to its current “embarrassing” state.

Oxfordshire County Council, the highways authority, has said it will be resurfacing London Road at some point in 2014 as part of a major redesign of the route.

But it is now riddled with potholes and there are concerns that things will only get worse if it has to wait for another year or more.

Roz Smith, county councillor for Barton and Churchill, said: “The state of the road is dreadful. It is so bad that the buses are not using the bus lane anymore.

“The surface of the road is crumbling away, so for cyclists and people on motorbikes it will be particularly dangerous.

“I am embarrassed by the state of it. We have got visitors coming from London and they have got to travel down this awful road.

“I have asked the county council whether anything can be done before the redesign takes place next year.

“I would like to see some resurfacing done now.”

Ms Smith suggested that the reason London Road was in such a bad state was because of the sheer volume of traffic using it.

It is used by cars and buses arriving and leaving Oxford for London and could also be used by people who move into the new 1,000-house Barton West development, which the city council is expected to start next year.

Transport bosses are proposing to extend the bus lanes along London Road to help make the traffic flow more smoothly.

Initially there had been plans to extend the bus lane from the Green Road roundabout to the Headington shops, both inbound and outbound, by making the pavement narrower.

But this has been scrapped by the county after concerns were raised about cutting the width of pavements on both sides of the road.

Now the county council is looking into having a shorter bus lane, but the finalised scheme will not be known in full detail until a formal consultation starts next month.

The county council has already announced an extra £250,000 will be invested in sorting out Oxfordshire’s potholes after months of rain and snow this winter.

County council spokesman Owen Morton said: “To carry out resurfacing ahead of the planned works would effectively mean replacing the road surface twice in quick succession, and as such there are no plans to do this.

“However, our highways team are aware of problems with potholes at this location and repairs are due to be carried out soon.”