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With work on High Street wrapping up, city staff is looking ahead to future work on the bumpy roadway.

Oxford City Council unanimously approved a resolution supporting the submission of a grant application to the Ohio Public Works Commission for the rehabilitation of the road between Main and Poplar streets at its Sept. 2 meeting.

Service Director Michael Dreisbach said the proposed $400,000 grant would allow the city to complete work on the aging street, likely including the intersection at Main and High.

"It's similar in scope to the first project, with a slightly greater cost because of the inclusion of that intersection," Dreisbach said.

The project would again see a crew tear out the old concrete, mud and dirt currently making up the street base and replace it with all new materials.

While the $327,712 contract for the first portion of High Street renovations was funded through a combination of federal earmarks and state toll revenue from the Ohio Department of Transportation, the proposed next step would likely require a local contribution of $120,000.

Dreisbach said the amount is not included in the city's upcoming operating budget, but some part of the street maintenance budget would likely cover the local funding match.

Mainline Construction's work on High between Beech and Main streets drew rave reviews from city staff, as Dreisbach said they kept to their schedule and produced excellent work. And although the work would ideally have been completed prior to the return of students, he noted we do not live in a perfect world.

"In the non-perfect world that we live in, we have to live by ODOT's schedule," Dreisbach said. "They only have so many people available to run projects and all of their other jobs were already programmed in."

The hope is that the second section of High Street renovations would begin shortly after Mother's Day, with the project wrapping up before start of the fall semester.

City Council also moved to withdraw a resolution adding a connector between U.S. 27 and Ohio 73 to the city's thoroughfare plan at the Tuesday night meeting. Because the original plan was adopted by ordinance, City Manager Doug Elliott said any amendment to the document would first require a review by the Planning Commission.

Contact this reporter at (513) 523-4139, ext. 86102, or at rgauthier@coxohio.com.