By Jim Newell — Editor of the Lake Orion Review

Plans are moving forward on the M-24 reconstruction and resurfacing project slated for 2020, with officials from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the engineering firm heading the project hosting a public information meeting Dec. 6 at the Oxford Public Library.

The M-24 project will extend from Goldengate Street in Orion Twp. north to Harriet Street in Oxford Twp., encompassing the villages of Lake Orion and Oxford.

Lori Swanson, projects and contracts administration engineer for MDOT, said the entire project is estimated to cost $23.5 million and will go out for construction contractor bids in December 2019.

“We’re still one year out from going to bid on the project,” Swanson said. “We will be doing a lot of project outreach as we get going to keep people abreast.”

MDOT will conduct a rehabilitation project involving 2.759 miles of M-24 from Goldengate Street to Drahner Road, milling the road down 3.5 inches and replacing it with new asphalt to extend the life of the highway. During the work, two lanes of M-24 traffic – one northbound and one southbound – will be maintained.

MDOT will also undertake the full reconstruction of 1.65 miles of M-24 in Oxford from Drahner Road to Harriet Street, just north of the village. The existing road will be completely removed, taken down to the dirt, then rebuilt.

Through downtown Oxford, the project includes a new streetscape, curbs and sidewalks in front of area businesses.

“Basically, from building face to building face it will all come out,” said Troy Van Orman, project engineer for AECOM, the engineering firm for the project.

During construction, there will be one lane open on southbound M-24 from Harriet Street to Drahner Road.

Northbound traffic would be detoured east onto Drahner Road, then to Oxford Lake Drive, Glaspie Street and N. Oxford Road to Ray Road where it would head west to reconnect with M-24.

The “cut through” streets also will be open, so motorists can cross from Glaspie to M-24 and head south to their destinations, Van Orman said, adding that Drahner Road west of M-24 will also be open to traffic.

Utilities relocation in preparation for construction is expected in 2019, while road construction is slated for April through November of 2020, Van Orman said.

Engineers and MDOT have planned a utilities meeting in early 2019 and will evaluate whether any portion of M-24 will be closed during relocation, he said.

Resurfacing and reconstruction of M-24 may be concurrent between the Orion and Oxford portions of the project, or done one after the other.

“That depends on the staging of the contractor. Some work may be done concurrent between Orion and Oxford, but there will likely be some overlap,” Van Orman said.

“I think this M-24 project is an outstanding opportunity for our community,” said village council President Joe Frost. “From my understanding, it’s the first complete rebuild of this scale for many, many decades.”

Frost said the village will hold public informational meetings to help keep residents and business owners informed.

“The point of contact on that will likely be our downtown development authority, that task force that they have is already starting to talk about the promotions plan that leads up to this,” he said. “We want to keep businesses normal in the downtown and one of the advantages that we have is that all of our downtown businesses in the traditional part of the downtown are accessible from the rear because of the parking that is behind them. Our hope is that that infrastructure that is in place will help mitigate the storefront side conflicts.”

Sue Bossardet, former village council president, said it’s been too long since the M-24 has seen any major rebuild but knows it will be taxing for residents during construction.

“It’s got to be done, we have no choice. It’s going to be disruptive to the town. It’s been 100 years since the road was repaired. For lack of a better term, we’re going to have to bite the bullet,” she said.