With the M-24 construction project a year away from breaking ground, Oxford Downtown Development Authority (DDA) Director Glenn Pape delivered some news regarding it to his board last week.

Pedestrian access was first on the list.

Pape informed the DDA board that the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) granted “formal approval” to install a mid-block pedestrian crossing between Centennial Park on the west side of M-24 and the alleyway adjacent to the Acheson building on the east side.

“Normally, you can have a crosswalk at any corner and that’s just considered a standard design feature,” he explained to this reporter. “We had to get a special exemption for the mid-block crossing.”

The crossing will include an island in the middle of M-24 where pedestrians can take refuge as they travel across the northbound and southbound lanes. A combination of signage and flexible lane markers will be used to alert drivers to the potential movement of pedestrians.

Pape said “it will be rather obvious (to drivers) that there’s a crossing there,” however, “it’s not going to (utilize)  a flashing beacon like we have at the Polly Ann Trail crossing” on W. Burdick St.

The mid-block crossing will be one of three crossings added to the downtown during the project. The other two will be located at the Dennison/Stanton/M-24 intersection and where M-24 and East St. meet. They, too, will include pedestrian refuge islands.

Pape noted these new crossings will make “moving around downtown much easier.”

“It allows us to get people to move from quadrant to quadrant without (requiring them) to go up to the Burdick St. intersection (where there is a signalized crosswalk),” he said.

Another bit of news concerning the M-24 project was concerning the detour route for northbound traffic. Once the road work is complete, the “entire” route will be milled and resurfaced, leaving the community with “a brand new road,” according to Pape.

During the reconstruction, northbound M-24 traffic will be detoured onto E. Drahner Rd., then directed to Oxford Lake Dr., Glaspie St., N. Oxford Rd. and finally Ray Rd., which will take motorists back to M-24.

“Some of those roads are engineered for a certain load level and we’re going to put five years of traffic on (them) in one summer,” Pape said. “They’re expecting those roads to take a beating.”

Because the route consists of village and county roads, which are not under MDOT’s jurisdiction, he said the state is required to “restore them” to their “pre-detour” condition.

“There may (also) need to be some pavement repairs prior to detour traffic as well,” Pape wrote in a memo to the board.

The type of pavement that will be used for M-24’s new surface between Dennison/Stanton streets to the south and East St. to the north is still in question, according to Pape.

The choice is between a high-impact hot asphalt mix (HMA) overlay and concrete.

“(MDOT is) leaning toward the asphalt construction because it’s cheaper,” said DDA Chairman Pete Scholz.

“The default for truck routes (like M-24) is to use the HMA,” Pape said.

But there is concern over the potential negative impact the laying of asphalt could have on downtown’s historic buildings. Scholz estimated that roughly 80 percent of them have fieldstone foundations and basements that are more than 100 years old.

The machinery used to compact HMA “can transfer vibrations to adjoining buildings” and potentially harm foundations, according to Pape.

“It is possible to cause significant damage to a foundation with the vibrations, so that’s why they’re very careful about that,” he said.

“If it does damage (them), then MDOT has to repair them,” Pape added.

Pape noted the use of high-impact HMA has resulted in harm to buildings elsewhere.

“They had some issues in Saline. There were some issues in parts of Rochester,” he said.

Installing concrete poses less risk to surrounding buildings. “You don’t have to compact the (concrete) when you put it in,” Pape said. “You just have to compact the (road) base, so it’s much less vibration transferring energy through the ground.”

Although concrete “has less of an impact,” the DDA director said, it is “more expensive than the HMA.”

MDOT’s decision regarding which pavement to use is largely going to be a matter of determining whether the risk to the historic buildings and the cost to repair them is more or less than the price of concrete.

Either way, Pape said the contractor will be required to “film every building’s basement that’s in the historic area” before work begins so there’s an official record of their condition.

He believes it’s a good idea for building owners to do the same thing. “We recommend that all the property owners do their own documentation because it gives them a backup source of information,” Pape said. “It’s just insurance.”

According to the timeline Pape provided to the board, plans for the M-24 project must be completed by June 7 and the bid proposals will be opened on Dec. 6.

Stretching from Goldengate St. in Orion Township to Harriet St. in Oxford Township, just north of the village, the M-24 project is expected to run from March through November next year and cost an estimated $23.5 million.