Botley Road in Oxford shuts for six months as £161m rail work begins

Work is starting on a major upgrade to Oxford station

A major city centre road has closed for an initial six months as work begins on a £161m railway station upgrade.

Botley Road in Oxford was shut in the early hours and will not reopen to traffic again until October.

It is part of a project being undertaken by Network Rail to expand Oxford station and improve services.

Pedestrians and cyclists will still be able to access the road, with diversions in place and motorists advised to take alternative routes.

Motorists will not be able to use the route again until October

The redevelopment, which includes work to replace Botley Road bridge, was originally scheduled to start in January but was delayed so the impact on the community could be reviewed.

The work is being undertaken in two phases, with the road under the bridge expected to be closed again between March and October next year.

Residents have previously expressed concern that the closure could harm the local economy, and make access for disabled people and the emergency services more difficult.

Nicky Hughes, Network Rail's director of communications, said attempts would be made to keep "disruption to a minimum" but that it would be a case of "no pain, no gain".

Oxford station will undergo work to cope with an expected increase in services and passengers

She told the BBC: "From a rail perspective, the critical elements Oxford will see is that additional new platform into Oxford station that will enable more services but critically that is absolutely vital to the east-west rail link with Cambridge, which is currently being built

"For road users and for bus users and pedestrians the new bridge is going to be much wider so there'll be 4m of cycle and pedestrian pass on either side, and the bridge is going to be higher so for the first time double-decker buses will be able to go under the bridge."

Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].