East Jackson to Reopen by Friday

East Jackson Avenue will be reopened this week to traffic and city officials are excited for everyone to see the newly designed east side of the downtown Square.

City Engineer Reanna Mayoral told the Oxford Board of Aldermen and Mayor Robyn Tannehill that the road will be reopened at least by Friday and maybe even sooner.

“We are working to install remaining street lights, a small piece of sidewalk at the former exit from St. Peters, and some traffic control items in order to open the road to traffic,” she said. “There will be landscaping remaining but the largest impact to traffic after opening will be when we complete the stamped crosswalks Aug14th-17th.”

Mayoral said crews will be adjusting the signal heads for the new roadway alignment on Thursday, which will delay traffic heading east towards the Square for a short period of time.

“We have achieved our goal of getting sidewalks and the street back open ahead of schedule,” she said.

The project was due to be “substantially complete” by Aug. 17.

“I’m very happy to report we are substantially complete today,” she said Tuesday.

The project included widening the sidewalks to allow businesses to expand their outdoor dining options or outdoor retail sales and building several planters where pedestrians can sit. Decorative street lamps now line the road as well.

Mayoral said gave credit to the contractor Phillips Contracting, special project coordinator Mark Levy, project manager Kevin McCleod, city staff and department heads for getting the project done early and below budget.

“We had to do this project with four other construction projects going on at the same time in the area,” Mayoral said.

“There has been a lot going on on East Jackson this summer,” Tannehill said.