By Dean Vaglia
Leader Staff Writer
Work to connect a five-mile loop of safety pathes and sidewalks started Monday, Oct. 18.
The final section of the loop, a 1,600 foot safety path along Dunlap Rd. between W. Bay Shore Dr. and Market St., will connect established footpaths in Oxford Township and Village. The route consists of two loops, a five mile route that goes into the village and a shorter route that cuts along Waterstone.
The total cost of the final stretch is $112,875.40, about $102,000 of it coming from the construction by Oxford-based Birmingham Sealcoat. $50,000 is being covered through a grant from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.
“I had already got one of these grants the year before to design a safety path for future construction … near the high school,” C.J. Carnacchio, communications and grants manager for the township, said. “After I did that first year I felt good, I established a good relationship with the Community Foundation. I decided to apply for it again, but when the grant period opened up I said ‘Well what am I going to apply for?’”
Carnacchio looked over the township’s safety path master plan and noticed the gap along Dunlap Road.
“I realized if we put this in, we’ve got a loop that goes along Market St., along M-24, back to Burdick St., back to Seymour Lake [and] back to Dunlap,” Carnacchio said. “A nice, even loop. Someone could conceivably go everywhere in the community in this area.”
The Board of Trustees agreed to cover the remaining costs as a way of showing the Community Foundation they were serious about the project and the grant application was accepted around late April.
Some notable locations along the route include the Polly Ann Trail, offices for both Oxford Township and Oxford Village and the township’s Oakland County Sheriff’s Office substation.