There will be no delaying the M-24 construction project. It’s still on for next year.

That was the word from Oxford Fire Chief Pete Scholz during last week’s township board meeting.

Scholz attended a July 10 meeting between officials from Oxford, Orion, Road Commission for Oakland County and Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT).

The purpose of this meeting was to discuss coordination between the current construction project on Baldwin Rd. in Orion Township and the M-24 project, which is slated to begin in March 2020 and encompass everything between Goldengate St. in Orion Township and Gateway Dr. in Oxford Township.

The portion of M-24 in Oxford between Drahner Rd. and Gateway Dr. will undergo reconstruction, meaning the road will be completely removed and everything rebuilt from the dirt up. In conjunction with this project, downtown Oxford’s streetscape will be revamped.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Baldwin Rd. project is going to extend into the 2020 construction season.

As a result, both of the area’s primary north-south roads will be under construction at the same time.

In light of this, Orion officials asked MDOT if the M-24 project could be pushed back a year.

According to Scholz, MDOT indicated the risks involved with such a scheduling change include “the chance of escalating (project) costs” and the possibility of the state deciding to pull funding for the work.

The chief reported there was a “lively back-and-forth discussion” between Orion and Oxford officials with the latter expressing “our desire that we wanted the project to go forward” as scheduled.

In the end, Scholz said MDOT gave Oxford Township Supervisor Bill Dunn “a direct answer that yes, the project is still full-steam-ahead going forward” in 2020.