Safety improvements to U.S. 27 South are moving forward with work expected to begin in March, Oxford City Council members were told Tuesday at their first meeting of 2013.

City Service Director Mike Dreisbach updated council on the project. He said his main reservation about the project as it goes forward is that federal funding requirements call for the construction phase to be turned over to the Ohio Department of Transportation which means there will no local control, including change orders which can affect local funds.

“It’s disturbing that we will not have control over change orders,” Dreisbach said. “If we accept federal money, we lose local control.”

He began his presentation noting that several area safety improvements envisioned a decade ago have been finished and several did not go beyond discussion. As an example of one that has been completed, he cited the work at the intersection of state routes 73 and 127.

“Safety is vastly improved (there),” he said.

This one, Dreisbach said, will be similar, although the scope of the work has been reduced from what had originally been proposed. The project will involve improvement of one mile of road, beginning at Chestnut Street and going south. He said the cost has increased over time.

“Currently, we are in the stage of acquiring rights of way,” Dreisbach said. “Once that is done, we will certify the property acquisition and turn it over to ODOT.”

He told council the estimated cost of the project is $11 million for one mile of road.

Dreisbach told council they expect to have the rights of way acquired by October 1 of this year with bids early next year. The plan is to begin construction March 1, 2014 with work expected to be completed by July 31, 2015.

He said the project will include two 12-foot travel lanes as well as curb, gutter and sidewalk and turn lanes at all major intersections. Sidewalks will run the entire length of the project on both sides of the road. The scope of the project includes the intersection of University Park Boulevard, the road leading to the new Talawanda High School building.

He said there are 36 pieces of property from which they need to acquire right of way for the work and two of them will require destruction of structures, one of them the groundskeeper’s residence at the Oxford Cemetery. Another issue involving the cemetery will be the gates erected at the entrance several years ago.

“The cemetery gates are in the right of way,” Dreisbach said. “We will try to have construction go around the gates but there is no guarantee we will be able to do that.”

He said that was known at the time the gates were erected.

He said the turn lane leading up to the high school entrance will be “substantial” because of the amount of traffic which typically backs up there. It will need to be 350 feet, he said.

One major part of the project will be replacement of the bridge over Collins Run, which will be raised to 8 feet over its current elevation and decrease the angle of the slope on the roadway.

Work on the bridge may also create problems for traffic flow during the project.

“Traffic will be maintained throughout the work, but will be down to one lane during the time of the bridge construction,” Dreisbach said. “You can expect long delays if you are using 27, especially with the new high school at the south end of the project.”

Asked about closing off the road, Dreisbach said with federal money involved, there are all kinds of problems involved with closing off a federal route, requiring them to maintain traffic.

He answered another council inquiry about the current path on the west side of the road saying it will no longer be needed. It was put in temporarily to service the high school and part of it is on Miami University land but grading near Chestnut Street will allow a sidewalk to be constructed.