First phase of new green travel network for West Oxford completed
Work on the first phase of a project to improve sustainable transport links into and out of West Oxford has finished, in a development that should encourage more people to walk or cycle rather than drive into the city
Section of the improved transport network after work was finished
The project was funded by the Oxford Local Economic Partnership (OxLEP), with the aim of boosting clean modes of transport and improving connectivity between Oxford and the area to its west. OxLEP secured £1.7m of funding from the government’s Local Growth Fund to enable the work to go ahead.
The University was responsible for delivering the section of the new cycle and footpaths that runs through Osney Mead and connects to the riverside path just south of Osney lock.
The University aspires to transform Osney Mead from an under-used industrial estate into a world-leading innovation district under its joint venture partnership with L&G. Improving access routes is a key precondition to doing this, and the newly finished sustainable transport routes should contribute to enabling safe, dry access to the site throughout the year.
The improvements will not only benefit the University, though; they will also provide thousands of people who commute into and out of central Oxford very day with a more attractive range of healthy, sustainable ways to do so. This should reduce carbon emissions and ease congestion on the city’s roads.
The City Council is leading the next phase of the project, which is planned to include the construction of a new cycle and pedestrian bridge over the river at Oxpens.
