THE new-look Milton Interchange near Didcot should be worth the wait say highways bosses but drivers have been warned they face one more weekend of delays as the scheme is completed.

The busy interchange on the A34 has been converted into a hamburger roundabout with a lane through the middle after the design proved a success at Headington, Heyford Hill and Kennington in Oxford.

But on Saturday and Sunday the interchange will be closed as 58 traffic lights are tested before the new road layout is fully opened.

Work on the £11.6m interchange started in January last year and it is hoped the new design will improve traffic flow on the A34 and on other approaches including the A4130 from Didcot.

Oxfordshire County Council leader Ian Hudspeth said: "It's fantastic news that this important scheme is now finished - hamburger roundabouts in Oxford have shown they improve capacity.

"This will improve the traffic flow for tens of thousands of drivers who use this stretch of the A34 every day and it's good for the Science Vale economy and businesses at Milton Park."

The junction will be closed from 8pm on Saturday and the A34 will be open but there will be no access to the interchange and diversions will be signposted.

Engineers hope to have the lights working and the roads reopened by late afternoon on Sunday but the closure period is being advertised as running until 4am on Monday to allow for "unforeseen" circumstances.

Once reopened, westbound traffic from Didcot on the A4130 will be able to go through the centre of the roundabout and onto the northbound A34 to Oxford and the M40.

The traffic lights will initially work on fixed timings while the MOVA system – which responds to changing demands on the roads – is installed by specialist signals contractors.

The county council's director of environment and economy Sue Scane added: "I hope once the lights are on and the road is open people using the interchange will see the benefits to their journeys as the area continues to see development and increased traffic levels."

The improvement is designed to allow the local road network to meet the demands of the forecast increase in jobs and traffic in the Science Vale area resulting from an extra 14,000 homes and 16,000 new jobs by 2029.

The Milton Park link has also been widened to four lanes eastbound on the A4130 and on the A34 slip road southbound.

The roundabout itself has been widened, as well as the southbound off slip road and the A4130 approach from Steventon.