TRAFFIC flowed freely through the new multi-million pound 'hamburger' roundabout in Oxford - but left some motorists feeling they were left trapped on their estate.

Oxfordshire County Council's £2.6m redesign of the Green Road junction got the thumbs up from many drivers who got their first real taste of the new system on Monday.

The roundabout features a road cutting through its centre - giving it the appearance from above of a hamburger - to take westbound traffic on the A40 from the London road section on to the North Way section towards Marston.

Work to create the lane through the centre of the Headington roundabout began in April, causing seven-and-a-half months of misery for motorists, local businesses and residents.

But motorist Adrian Keys, 36, of Northway, was among motorists who took almost ten minutes to get on to the roundabout because there are no traffic lights at the Bayswater Road exit to the estate.

He said: "It's a nightmare getting out of Barton. They don't seem to have thought about the people coming from Barton or the villages.

"There is this brand new roundabout and we are still fighting to get out of our estate.

"They have spent all this money and you would have thought they could have thought about putting in lights for us - nothing has changed."

"There were a lot of frustrated drivers this morning. I am just lucky I managed to edge myself out. I had to keep pushing and pushing. The lights go green and all the traffic from Headington comes through, then the other lights go green and all the traffic from Summertown goes past. It's a nightmare."

One former critic, Keith Slater, estimated that the project had cost users £22m in lost time - but he praised the scheme, which he called "very promising".

The former Chamber of Commerce president, who uses the route five times a week, said drivers were confused about which lane to get into.

But he said: "It will take a while for people to get used to it, but evidence so far is that traffic flowed very well and smoothly.

"First impressions is it will make a difference. The county council have done a very good job and finished it on time which is great."

Stagecoach bus drivers are also happy with the scheme.

Spokesman Chris Child said: "There have been no problems whatsoever. Everything is running to time and the drivers think it is brilliant."

But not everyone was so enthusiastic.

Neil Bolton, who owns Headington Bathrooms, by the roundabout, said the roadworks had cost him about £500,000 in lost turnover.

He said: "It has caused huge problems with the business. Hopefully it will sort itself out but looking at it it is bound to have teething problems.

"It is taking traffic away from us but it is traffic we want."

Council principal engineer Colin Baird said Oxfordshire Highways had several members of staff monitoring traffic flows at the site.

He said: "A tremendous amount of work has gone into making the transition from the old system to the new one as smooth as possible.

"However that transition is not over and it will take several weeks for everybody to get used to the new layout.

"We can only stress yet again that judgements should not be made about the hamburger for some time to come.

"I would also like to draw attention to the quality of the resurfacing work that has been done on the roads leading to the roundabout."