Oxford Township is getting a shot at some outside funding to potentially improve M-24 for pedestrians and bicyclists thanks to the Oxford Village Council.

Last week, council voted 5-0 to sponsor, “at no additional cost” to the village, the township’s application for a grant of up to $50,000 from the Traffic Safety Plan Implementation Assistance Program through the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG).

If selected, the township would use the grant money to conduct a walking and biking audit of M-24 between Indian Lake Rd. and Harriet St. in the hopes of using the results to achieve its goal of having safety paths installed on both the east and west sides of the busy state highway.

Such an audit would consist of reviewing the existing walking and biking conditions in order to improve safety, accessibility and transportation efficiency. It would focus on addressing issues “such as location and quality” of sidewalks, crosswalks and bikeways, street furniture, signage, signalization and intersection design.

“I’m all for sponsoring the safety audit,” said Councilwoman Maureen Helmuth. “I think it would be great.”

SEMCOG has $300,000 available for the program. The maximum grant request is $50,000 per proposal. The application deadline is May 22. It’s anticipated the grant funds would be available beginning July 1 and have to be expended by June 30, 2019.

Township Treasurer Joe Ferrari, who chairs the township’s Safety Path Committee, made the request of council.

As part of the M-24 construction project slated for 2020, Ferrari said he’s heard the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is looking at possibly installing new safety paths on just one side of the road, not both, which is the township’s preference.

“We don’t know that yet (for sure) because everything’s still in the design phase,” he noted. “We’d like to kind of nip that in the bud and do a study (to) show them what our needs are.”

The M-24 project will extend from Goldengate St. in Orion Township to Harriet St. in Oxford Township and encompass the villages of Lake Orion and Oxford in between.

Ferrari is “afraid” that because MDOT owns the road, “they’re just going to do whatever they want.” The best way to combat that, according to the treasurer, is to have an objective, third party study the issue, so the township can tell MDOT “this is what they think we should do, instead of this is what the township wants (or) this is what the village wants.”

“If we can get (safety paths) on both sides of the road and have the state agree to it, it makes our lives a lot easier than coming back 10 years from now (to construct a path the other side of M-24),” Ferrari said.

The township needed the village to sponsor the application to SEMCOG because only entities that can receive road funding via Public Act 51 of 1951 are eligible to apply. Act 51 governs the distribution of revenues in the Michigan Transportation Fund. Villages, cities and county road commissions all receive funds through Act 51. Townships do not.

In addition to sponsoring the grant application, Ferrari asked the village if it would like to participate financially.

The grant requires a cash match of at least 20 percent, which could be as much as $10,000 if the maximum of $50,000 is awarded to the township.

Given 35 percent of the portion of M-24 to be studied is located in the village, the township asked council if it would be willing to contribute $3,500 toward the required match.

“We’d like to get the financial contribution, but to us, that’s not a deal-breaker,” Ferarri told council. “We’d like to get it, but if you don’t get it, you don’t get it.”

The treasurer indicated the township was primarily interested in obtaining the village’s sponsorship of the grant application.

That’s good because council had no interest in participating financially.

Helmuth reminded Ferrari that “you’re already getting our financial support.”

She was referring to the fact that village residents are also township residents who pay township property taxes.

That being said, Helmuth noted she supports installing safety paths on both sides of the state highway. She indicated she recently gave a kid a ride to the Kroger store in Lake Orion “because I didn’t want him walking down M-24.”