Overnight paving set for Highway 7, University Avenue roundabout in Oxford

Overnight paving was set to move the Highway 7 and University Avenue roundabout into its final stretch in Oxford, with Mississippi Department of Transportation crews planning to lay the last layers of asphalt on the southbound exit ramp from State Route 7 to University Avenue and the southbound on-ramp from University Avenue back to State Route 7. By confining the work to nighttime hours, MDOT aimed to cut down on daytime backups for commuters, students, shoppers and businesses that depend on the corridor every day.

The roundabout project had already been pushing toward completion, and crews were out on University Avenue doing preliminary work before the paving phase. MDOT and local reports said all four interchange ramps stayed open during construction, with traffic routed through the inside lanes while work stayed on the outer portions of the roadway. Before final paving, crews had been wrapping up drainage installation, curb and gutter work, concrete work and grading between the existing ramps.

The interchange reconstruction is listed as Federal Aid Project No. STBG-0019-02(058) / 107834301 in Lafayette County. The work was awarded to Cook & Son, LLC of Smithville for $4.9 million. MDOT bid documents listed a completion date of July 17, 2026, but Oxford officials said in August 2025 that the project had started in October 2024, was originally expected to take 18 months and could finish in late October or early November 2025, months ahead of the spring 2026 expectation.

The Highway 7 and University Avenue intersection has been a long-running safety concern in Oxford, and it prompted calls from city and county leaders for improvements years before construction began. The roundabout buildout is part of a larger push to widen and improve the Highway 7 corridor, which gained state support in 2024 as Oxford and Lafayette County continued to deal with growth and traffic pressure on the south side of town.