PLANS for a new bus lane have been hailed as the solution to "horrendous" traffic woes on the area's roads.

Oxfordshire County Council wants to install a lane for public transport and emergency vehicles at Roosevelt Drive, in Headington, Oxford – between the junction of Old Road Campus and Churchill Drive.

If approved, all other vehicles would be prohibited from using the lane from 3-6pm, Mondays to Fridays.

In its proposals, Oxfordshire County Council said traffic leaving the Churchill Hospital during the operational times of the bus lane would have to exit westwards to the Old Road and Warneford Lane junction.

Traffic cameras will enforce the restrictions.

Oxfordshire County councillor Liz Brighouse praised the plans and said they would encourage more people on to buses.

She said: "I am in favour of it. I don't see any reason that it wouldn't get the go-ahead.

"The amount of cars that are going on to that site at the moment is just horrendous.

"We need to encourage more people to use the bus and this would hopefully go some way towards doing that. There are great queues of traffic going into that site now, and we really need to get more people to use the buses that are subsidised.

"I just hope it will alleviate some of the problems in that part of town."

The proposal forms part of the £12.5m, 23-month long Access to Headington infrastructure improvement scheme which is seeing improvements to the area.

The project recently re-started after the festive break, with work on the junctions of Old Road, Roosevelt Drive, Gipsy Lane and Warneford Lane.

Simultaneous work on a 2.2km hospital pipeline connecting the John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals is also ongoing by contractors Vital Energi, with all work due to finish in April.

Asked when the proposed new bus route could be up and running Ms Brighouse said it would depend on the progress of the roadwork projects already underway.

She said: "They will have to take into account what is happening in the other projects. Because of the amount of work on that road, the traffic is going to be a massive problem."

Consultation is now open on the proposal with all objections and representations to be made in writing to Oxfordshire County Council by February 3.