A40 – £4.8m progress for railway bridge repair near Oxford

The Wolvercote Railway Bridge at Duke’s Cut waterway is in need of strengthening and maintenance works.

Non-contributing concrete that encases the bridge’s steel portal frames needs to be removed from the aging bridge.

The exposed steel portal frame also needs strengthening with a protective paint solution added to protect against corrosion.

Oxfordshire County Council documents say these works are essential to enable the delivery of housing in West Oxfordshire.

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An estimated 4,813 new homes are expected to be built along the A40 corridor in West Oxfordshire.

The county council, as the highways authority, is tasked with funding this bridge repair project.

Estimated to cost £6.5m, it is funded using £5m of council taxpayers’ money and £1.5m from the Housing Infrastructure Fund.

At a meeting, cabinet member for highways construction and repair Liz Leffman agreed to award a £4,855,610 contract to the M Group to carry out the work.

The M Group is the main contractor behind the pothole repairs across Oxfordshire.

She said the project is “time sensitive” due to it being a Network Rail bridge, adding: “It needs to be handed back to them once the work is done.”

“For a long time now, we have been looking at how we can improve the A40, particularly with regard to bus lanes, better active travel facilities and this is very much all part of that project which is now going ahead,” she added.

The contract will comprise mobilisation works during stage one with an estimated value of £776,556 while the main construction works will be in stage two.

Work is understood to begin soon, as part of the Eynsham park and ride to Wolvercote scheme.

Eynsham park and ride (Image: Supplied)

The £51 million Eynsham park and ride on the A40 remains closed as it currently lacks an access road.

The 850-space Eynsham Park and Ride facility physically finished construction in January 2024. However, the site was left dormant because it lacked road access.

Following planning approval granted in June 2026, a £126m scheme is underway to build an access junction, which is expected to open the site in 2027.

Preparatory work will begin shortly, including planning approvals, site clearance and compound set-up, with construction due to start later this year.

The project will be delivered in phases. The initial phase will deliver a new junction connecting the A40 to Eynsham park and ride, along with bus priority measures and upgraded active travel routes.