LAWTON –With the help of revenue from medical marijuana sales tax, Lawton is tackling a series of projects designed to make it easier for pedestrians to get around town.
City officials hosted a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for one of those projects – a sidewalk on the west side of Sheridan Road that will stretch from Northwest Smith Avenue to Northwest Cache Road. The project should be completed in about 100 days.
Lawton residents have said repeatedly that the city needs more sidewalks, said Lawton City Councilman and Lawton Enhancement Trust Authority Chairman Jay Burk.
“I think the citizens spoke loudly in all of the surveys that we did, and the number one thing that they asked us for was sidewalks,” he said. “We need sidewalks everywhere in our community.”
Burk said the city will also take steps to ensure public safety, such as installing sound alarms so pedestrians can hear cars approaching the stoplight and know when they can cross the street safely.
“We’re doing it the right way, not just putting sidewalks in and hope that you can get across the roadway,” he said.
The Oklahoma City-based company MTZ Construction Inc. is the contractor for the Sheridan Road project, which is expected to cost about $458,000. Funding for the project will come from medical marijuana sales tax collections.
The Sheridan Road sidewalk is the first of more than a dozen sidewalk projects scheduled for every section of the city, said Mike Jones, the city’s Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator. He said the next major project on the list is a continuous sidewalk on the south side of Gore Boulevard from 38th Street to 52nd Street, then on to 67th Street. Other projects will provide new sidewalks in the downtown area and along Ferris Avenue.
“This project, however, is significant because it represents, very visibly and unmistakably, our commitment to the citizens to provide a safer, more accessible pedestrian environment than ever,” Jones said. “Safer for walkers, people riding bikes, people catching LATS (Lawton Area Transit System) buses and also for the many disabled persons in our city who have a desire to be independent and self-sufficient. They can much more easily do that when they’re provided with a network of ADA-accessible sidewalks.”
Jones thanked City Manager Michael Cleghorn, Mayor Stan Booker and other officials for supporting sidewalk construction projects. He also thanked the members of the Lawton Access Board, which acts as a liaison between the city and people with disabilities.
“They call with ideas, suggestions, concerns, identifying shortfalls in the level of accessibility we provide for the approximately 13,000 disabled citizens of Lawton,” Jones said. “They personify the idea that one motivated individual can make a positive difference for the entire community.”