MDOT Night Paving Begins March 30 at Oxford Highway 7 Roundabout

The roundabout at Highway 7 and University Avenue is nearly finished, and the Mississippi Department of Transportation plans to keep it that way without snarling Oxford's daytime traffic. MDOT crews are tentatively scheduled to begin placing the final layers of asphalt on the roundabout and surrounding roadways on March 30, weather permitting, with all paving work confined to overnight hours.

City Engineer John Crawley, who briefed the Oxford Board of Aldermen on the project timeline, said the overnight-only approach is designed to limit disruption to drivers. The work will still require temporary closures. "They will close portions of that intersection during periods overnight," Crawley said. "They'll have to close ramps onto and off of Highway 7 as they progress."

The paving phase is expected to run approximately one to one-and-a-half weeks, meaning the roundabout could carry its final asphalt surface by mid-April, barring weather delays.

Mayor Robyn Tannehill acknowledged that because this is an MDOT project, Oxford has no approval authority over its schedule. "They don't really need our permission to move forward. It's an MDOT project," Tannehill said. "We wanted to at least state publicly what was going to happen, so the public would know that the roadways will be closed for paving."

The Board of Aldermen also voted at Tuesday's meeting to advertise for bids for a City of Oxford logo sign to be installed in the center of the roundabout once construction wraps up, giving the new intersection a distinctly local identity when it opens in full.