By James Hanlon
Leader Staff Writer
The west half of the Burdick St./M-24 intersection in downtown Oxford was closed for another three days from Friday, Oct. 30 to Sunday, Nov. 1.
The closure was to allow crews to remove and replace a faulty leveling course (second layer of asphalt) that had just been laid. This extra work was done at contractor cost, according to MDOT Construction Engineer Brian Travis.
“We also need to finish the remaining leveling course in this area and remove the temporary wedged asphalt in the intersection,” Travis wrote in an email to local officials. “In order to facilitate this work in an efficient manner, we have decided to close the west half of the Burdick intersection. In addition to the work mentioned above, our contractor has committed to coming in Saturday and Sunday to pave the top course (third and final layer of asphalt), and keeping Burdick closed through the weekend will allow them to get in and do all of this work unimpeded.”
The intersection was previously closed from Oct. 7 to Oct. 24. That closure had been extended several days due to weather delays.
“I don’t like to have to close Burdick again so soon after we reopened last week, but I do think this is a critical time where we need to take advantage of weather and get as much paving done as possible,” Travis noted.
On Monday, workers were slated to finish up paving the west side of the M-24/Drahner Road instersection. The single lane of southbound traffic was also shifted back to the west side of M-24 between Gateway Dr. and Drahner Rd., Tuesday. Southbound traffic had been shifted to the east side (northbound lanes) in September, while crews reconstructed the southbound lanes. “This will allow for top course paving to begin on the (northbound) lanes,” wrote MDOT Construction Engineer Brian Travis.
All northbound M-24 traffic will continue to be prohibited in this section. Northbound traffic should continue to follow the detour route through Glaspie St.
Crews have also been paving the top course layer through the Burdick and Drahner intersections Tuesday and Wednesday. The intersections have remained open, with traffic stopped and shifted around at times.
Travis added, “After the top course paving is complete in the reconstruction section, crews will move down to the rehab (portion) in Lake Orion to begin paving, likely by Thursday or Friday of this week.”
MDOT’s goal is to reopen all lanes, with traffic flowing in both directions before winter. The M-24 construction project is scheduled to be completed in early December, with some finishing touches to be done in the spring.

  M-24 construction