Second new Oxford Road bus lane due to open

A second new road scheme designed to provide quicker and more reliable bus services along the Oxford Road is due to open later this week.

The next phase of the Council’s £26m investment in local bus services will see a new bus lane installed on the outbound carriageway of the Oxford Road, between its junctions with Pangbourne Street and Norcot Road.

The new bus lane is being created through a redesign of the highway, with no loss of road space for general traffic. The westbound left-turn lane to Norcot Road has also been extended to help improve movements at the roundabout.

Resurfacing works will be taking place between the junctions of Shaftesbury Road and Norcot Road every night this week up to and including Friday 1 November, with closures in place between 7pm-2am. Locally signed diversion routes will be in place during the closures. The bus lane will go live immediately after the works.

The latest bus priority measures are being introduced just four weeks after the opening of a new bus lane on the outbound carriageway of Oxford Road between Zinzan Street and George Street.

The schemes are part of a programme of five new bus lane being created in the borough, the first of which opened in London Road (Cemetery Junction), in east Reading, in August.

The new bus lanes form part of the Council’s wider Bus Service improvement Plan (BSIP) which received £26m funding from the Department for Transport.

All five bus lanes have been selected for stretches of road where services suffer most from delays due to traffic congestion, particularly at peak times.

The aim of the BSIP is to encourage greater use of public transport by making bus travel easier, more convenient, more reliable and quicker.

Cllr John Ennis, Lead Councillor for Climate Strategy and Transport, said:

“The busy Oxford Road is an integral part of Reading’s best-used bus route, the Purple 17, which runs between east and west Reading all day every day. The introduction of these two new bus lanes will benefit many thousands of passengers whose journeys will now run more smoothly, as well as residents who live in and around the Oxford Road by reducing congestion and the health impacts of air pollution.

“Reading already boasts an excellent bus network and It will become an even more attractive way to travel if buses can avoid traffic congestion and journeys are quicker and more reliable.

“The Council’s aim is to tackle traffic congestion, reduce carbon emissions, improve air quality and for Reading to become a net-zero borough.

“Without making significant changes to the transport infrastructure, including new bus lanes, and providing realistic sustainable transport alternatives, car usage will continue to grow, creating greater levels of congestion, producing more air pollution and damaging the health of Reading residents.”

Work on a new inbound bus lane along the London Road, between Sidmouth Street and London Street, and on the A327 Southampton Street, inbound from Pell Street to the Oracle roundabout, are both expected to begin in the Spring of 2025.