MEDICINE PARK — The Medicine Park Board of Trustees would like to see the existing Medicine Creek Bridge replaced with a new bridge that includes access for pedestrians.
In a special session, the board voted 5-0 Wednesday to approve a design for a prefabricated truss bridge, which was prepared by the Oklahoma City-based engineering firm Poe and Associates. Board members said they wanted the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, which will build the bridge, to strongly consider providing some form of pedestrian access to the bridge.
Poe and Associates submitted three possible designs for the board to choose from, including the prefabricated truss bridge.
That design calls for a 28-foot-wide driving bridge without pedestrian access, but the engineering firm could tweak the design to expand the bridge to 30 feet and include walking lanes, said Mayor Rich Amadon.
“They are looking at an option, right now, to make it bigger so we can put a stripe down there and have a walking lane on each side,” he said.
The federal government is footing the bill for the new bridge, but the cost of the project has not been determined yet.