On Tuesday, the Oxford Board of Aldermen took a few steps toward making the four-laning of Highway 7 from Oxford to the 7/9 split a reality.

The aldermen accepted a bid to move utilities from the right-of-way.

“This has to be done for MDOT to four-lane Highway 7,” said City Engineer John Crawley. “The water and sewer lines are in the way and need to be moved.”

Three bids were received. The low bid was for $5,986,963 from Argo Construction.

The board also approved a $1,793,511 bid from Axis Site Work, LLC to enlarge the water main line.

“We’re going to be out there anyway so we’d like to upsize the water line further down south toward Highway 328,” Crawley said.

In May, city and county leaders learned that the Mississippi Senate and House of Representatives passed a bill providing $160M for widening Highway 7 South. The project has been put on hold for decades awaiting funding.