A busy half-mile stretch of asphalt road connecting Oxford Township to the village is going to be resurfaced at some point.

Last week, the Oxford Township Board voted 7-0 to allocate approximately $55,820 of its Tri-Party Program funding for the resurfacing of Pontiac Rd. from the Oxford Village limits to W. Drahner Rd.

“That’s a highly-used piece of road,” said Supervisor Bill Dunn.

Traffic counts conducted in 2012 by the Road Commission for Oakland County showed a total of 3,040 vehicles per day travelling north and south on this road. A 2014 count of just southbound traffic showed 1,388 vehicles per day.

The Pontiac Rd. project will be paid for using Tri-Party Program funds, which are derived from three sources – Oakland County, the county Road Commission and the local municipality. Each entity contributes a third to road improvements.

Currently, the township has a total of $167,461 in available Tri-Party funding. This includes the aforementioned $55,820 from the township, plus $111,641 from the county and road commission.

Township engineer Jim Sharpe, president of the Oxford-based Sharpe Engineering, was authorized by township officials to do the design work for this project.

“The reason we’re using Jim is the road commission does not have the time or the manpower to do this,” Dunn explained.