LAWTON – A project to replace a narrow, aged bridge in rural Comanche County is underway.
The bridge is on Coombs Road (east/west Comanche County Road 169) and crosses Cache Creek 1.2 miles east of Interstate 44 near Lawton, in the district of County Commissioner Gail Turner.
The steel truss bridge was 170 feet long and one lane wide and had a wooden deck.
Its weight-bearing capacity was limited to 5 tons.
The structurally deficient bridge was built 54 years ago, in 1966, when Lyndon Baines Johnson was President of the United States, Oklahoma Department of Transportation records reflect. The bridge carried an average of 150 vehicles daily, research indicates.
The bridge is well-traveled, Turner said, noting that Lawton’s Southeast Water Treatment Plant, Lawton’s wastewater treatment plant, the GEO Correctional Facility, and Lawton’s sanitary landfill are all in the vicinity of the site.
A $1,360,551 contract was awarded to Frontier Bridge of Okarche to tear out the existing bridge and build a new steel-reinforced concrete span at the site, and to construct new asphalt approaches at each end of the bridge. The new structure will be almost 208 feet long and 26 feet wide, blueprints show. Both sides of the channel will be covered with stone riprap to prevent erosion of the embankment, Turner said.
The Cache Creek crossing is closed to traffic during construction.