CHICKASHA – A $1.8 million project to build a loop around Shannon Springs Park will be delayed for a year, to 2025.
Earlier this year the City Council approved an agreement with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation for construction of a trail at Ninth Street and Ron Terry Drive, to be financed largely with a federal grant.
The project will entail tearing out the existing asphalt trails in the 50-acre park and replacing them with concrete paths, and addressing erosion around the east and west sides of the park’s 4.5-acre pond, Parks and Recreation Director Spencer Winzenried said. A department master plan adopted 10 years ago noted the shoreline erosion and the “poor condition” of the park’s pedestrian/bicycle trails.
If enough money is available, additional lighting will be installed in the park, too, Winzenried said.
The work was expected to start next March “but we encountered more ‘red tape’ even though we’re replacing a trail that already exists,” Winzenried told Southwest Ledger on Oct. 3.
The construction project must be finished by October, he said, because the Festival of Light is celebrated in the park each night from the Saturday before Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve each year. “But the environmental requirements we have to fulfill won’t leave us with enough time to complete the job” and meet that deadline next year.
Chickasha qualified for a $1,801,355 Transportation Alternatives Program 80/20 federal grant that’s administered by ODOT.
TAP grants finance “smaller-scale projects aimed primarily at connectivity and active transportation, such as walking and cycling,” said T.J. Gerlach, public information officer in ODOT’s Strategic Communications division. Eligible projects include sidewalks, trails, safe routes to schools, streetscapes, and environmental or historical preservation, he said.
The grant will underwrite 80% of the project cost, or $1.44 million, including $195,000 for design fees and $1.246 million for construction expenses. The City of Chickasha will be responsible for the other 20%, or $360,271.