LAWTON – Comanche County Commissioners voted Tuesday to partner with the Comanche Nation on replacement of 15 culverts and low-water crossings in the county that are on tribal transportation routes.
The Comanche Nation Transportation Department proposes to fund the design and construction of new bridges at an estimated cost of $1.34 million, according to the “Engineering Design Services and Fee Summary” document in county records.
CEC Corporation will provide design services on the projects. CEC will assist the county by providing construction plans, specifications, and estimates for the projects “to be used by the county for advertising and construction” of the spans.
The work will include “services to determine the appropriate configuration, width and length of each bridge,” and all bridge lengths will be determined by hydraulic analysis, CEC reported.
Approximately half of the design is to be completed within seven and a half months of notice to proceed, and the remaining bridges are to be completed within 15 months from notice to proceed, CEC said.
“It is anticipated that the bridges will be bundled by similarity into three or four packets for letting together,” county and tribal officials said, in anticipation of attracting multiple competitive bids.
Temporary construction access agreements with landowners “will be the responsibility of the county to secure,” CEC said.
Records show the structures to be replaced will include:
•A low-water crossing on east/west County Road 152 at north/south County Road 256, approximately one-tenth of a mile west of north/south County Road 257 on the western side of Lake Ellsworth, northwest of Elgin.
•Approximately 4 miles north and 2.3 miles west of SH-49, a bridge on E/W-154 at N/S-251.
•Northeast of Medicine Park and west of the SH-49/Interstate 44 corridor, a new bridge
on E/W-156 approximately three-tenths of a mile east of N/S-255.
•A new bridge on E/W-156 approximately two-tenths of a mile east of N/S-257, near the SH-49/I-44 corridor north of Lawton.
•In far western Comanche County, south of SH-49, a low-water crossing on N/S-234 approximately seven-tenths of a mile south of E/W-160.
•A new bridge on E/W-165 at N/S-247, spanning Blue Beaver Creek. The federal inventory places the location approximately 1.2 miles south and 3.9 miles east of US-62 and east of Cache.
•A new bridge southwest of Cache on N/S-235 approximately two-tenths of a mile south of E/W-168.
•A new bridge on E/W-167 halfway between N/S-240 and N/S-241, approximately 3 miles south and 3½ miles west of Cache.
•Approximately 4½ miles south and 2½ miles west of Cache, a new bridge to replace a low-water crossing on E/W-169 halfway between N/S-241 and N/S-242.
•A new bridge on N/S-243 approximately eight-tenths of a mile south of E/W-168, approximately 4 miles south of Cache.
•Northwest of Faxon, a new bridge on N/S-240 to replace a low-water crossing approximately six-tenths of a mile south of E/W-171, in southwestern Comanche County.
•In far southwestern Comanche County, northwest of Faxon, a new bridge on N/S-236 approximately eighttenths of a mile south of E/W-172.
•Roughly a mile south and a mile west of Faxon, a bridge on N/S-245 approximately four-tenths of a mile south of E/W-177.
•Approximately 1.9 miles north of Chattanooga, a bridge on N/S-243 at E/W-176.
•Southwest of Faxon and north of Chattanooga, a bridge on N/S-244 halfway between E/W-177 and E/W178. ___ Mike W. Ray is a fifth-generation, award-winning journalist who has more than 55 years’ experience covering municipal, county, state and federal government in Oklahoma and Texas. He can be reached at mike.ray@swoknews.com.