North of Oxford the M40 runs through the Cherwell valley, past Bicester to Banbury. More than one vehicle in ten between Junctions 9 and 10 is a lorry. Reports for these junctions are shown below.

The junctions on this stretch

• Junction 9 — the A34 for Oxford and Newbury, and the A41 for Bicester and Aylesbury.
• Junction 10 — the A43 for Northampton and Milton Keynes, and Cherwell Valley services.
• Junction 11 — the A422 and A361 for Banbury, Brackley and Daventry.

How busy is this stretch?

M40 Junctions 9 to 11 — Bicester and Banbury: vehicles a day, stretch by stretch

Stretch	All vehicles	Lorries	Share lorries
J9 to J10	100,293	10,708	10.7%
J10 to J11	88,618	8,575	9.7%

© M40Traffic.co.uk · Statistics from the Department for Transport

Junction 9 to 10 is back above 100,000 vehicles a day once the A34 has joined. It carries more traffic away from London than towards it: 56,031 northbound against 44,262 southbound. Some of that traffic leaves again at Junction 10 for the A43.

Between Junctions 10 and 11 the Department for Transport lists five count points, one for each section between council boundaries, all with the same figure of 88,618. It appears here once.

The A43 connection

Junction 10 is the M40’s link to the A43, signed for Northampton and Milton Keynes. The difference between the two sides of the junction — 100,293 vehicles a day south of it, 88,618 north of it — is the clearest sign in the counts of how much traffic joins or leaves here. For the M1, see M1 Traffic.

When this stretch opened

The M40 north of Oxford was one of the last parts of the motorway to be built. The 48-mile section that closed the gap opened in January 1991.

Previous stretch: Junctions 7 to 9, Oxford. Next: Junctions 11 to 14, Gaydon and Leamington.

Traffic count figures on this page are from the Department for Transport road traffic statistics, 2025.