Cross

This pic shows the railway bridge over Botley Road: the only road between the west of Oxford city and the centre. It was closed in April 2023 for Network Rail to replace the bridge, upgrade the station and improve rail services.

The work was supposed to finish this October but it turned out there was an “outdated maze of pipes and cables below the highway, in a severely constrained space, with poor ground conditions and significant water levels”. Rerouting the 11 different utilities running under this road has proved “very challenging” and Network Rail has indefinitely delayed the replacement of the bridge. I gather that water and gas supplies have been done, but not sewers, electricity or internet. I can't think what the other six utilities might be.

Pedestrians and cyclists pushing their bikes can get through on a footpath below the bridge and above the road, but buses, delivery vehicles, emergency vehicles and cars can't. It's a huge disruption for local people and for the many shops along Botley Road and their customers, and people are getting increasingly frustrated.

I went through this afternoon to catch a re-routed bus westwards for my third play in three nights! I went with family to see Stones in His Pockets at the Barn in Cirencester. I last saw it at the Oxford Playhouse in 2003 and was entranced by how it showed the craft of acting: two actors playing 15 different roles, shifting from one to the other, utterly convincingly, just by turning fast on the spot. In that production, directed by the playwright, Marie Jones, the set was almost bare, so the audience's focus was unremittingly on the actors. This production, directed by her son, Matthew McElhinney, gave the actors scenery and props to aid the transformations. It was clever, funny, energetic and poignant and I loved it. But I think, just, I preferred the stripped down version.