While celebrating the “state of the community,” Oxford Village officials looked toward the upcoming M-24 reconstruction project and the anticipated growth it will bring to the downtown area during the Oxford Chamber of Commerce’s community breakfast on Jan. 22.

The audience included the community leaders, business owners and officials that will experience the project’s effects firsthand both during and after the reconstruction. Though the traffic situation will be difficult in the project’s midst, the aftermath is expected to welcome far more traffic and people downtown.

“There are new businesses who are deliberately locating downtown because of the 2020 M-24 project,” said village President Joe Frost. “They want to be here when the ribbon is cut.”

The M-24 project will stretch from Goldengate St. in Orion Township to Harriet St. in Oxford Township.

Frost, who also expressed excitement over the village’s nomination for the National Register of Historic Places, sees big things on the horizon for the village.

“The Village of Oxford is optimistic,” he said. “Our downtown is full of opportunity.”

After Frost and a few other village and township officials spoke, Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Glen Pape addressed the crowd regarding some of the project’s specifics, namely the streetscape improvements that will be made in downtown Oxford.

First and foremost, downtown’s sidewalks will be “whiter” and all of the seating will be getting a fresh coat of black paint. There will also be additional lighting and bike racks in the downtown area to promote more foot and bike travel.

Seating and planters will be added along the sidewalks to create “welcoming” places that invite shoppers, walkers and others to linger. Officials hope increasing foot traffic and the overall time spent downtown area will be a positive for small businesses and investors.

“They can get a cup of coffee while they’re shopping. (This will) give them a place to sit,” Pape said. “It lengthens the trip, it increases spending and it gives people a sense of comfort in the downtown.”

On the aesthetic side, every light post in the village, including new ones that will be added as part of the project, will have either a banner or flower basket hanging at all times. The roadside trees downtown will also have a habitat update to help them grow bigger and brighter.

“We’re going to add a lot of color downtown,” Pape said.

Because the hope is to have more people walking downtown, the project will include safety enhancements. There will be additional crosswalks at the edges of downtown and, when the project is completed and people start using those crosswalks, Pape said the DDA will begin gathering data to pursue a crosswalk complete with traffic lights.

“We are going to be able to cross M-24 on foot in more locations,” he said. “This is going to be a big benefit for the community (giving) pedestrians (the ability to) cross this street at three places in a safe environment.”

The newly-constructed road will have narrower lanes, which are meant to discourage drivers from speeding.

“Our target design speed for this project is 25 to 30 miles per hour, so we’re going to slow that traffic down as it goes through the village,” Pape said. “We’re focusing on pedestrian safety.”

These narrower lanes will also give people who parallel park along M-24 more room to enter and exit their vehicles.

All of this work will require time and patience from those who frequently travel through the village.

The project is expected to start on April 25, 2020 and take several months to complete.