LAWTON – Reconstruction of 38th Street has begun, the “105 in ’25” mill-andoverlay program is expected to start in a few weeks, and traffic has been diverted around the two Wolf Creek bridges on South 11th Street in preparation for demolition and replacement of the structures.
• Although the “105” street program is behind schedule, “We think we can” repair that many streets this year if the weather is accommodating and adequate funding is available, Councilman George Gill said.
Instead of financing those projects directly with revenue from the city’s General Fund, the City Council intends to borrow the money, said City Manager John Ratliff and Councilman Gill, chairman of the city’s Streets and Bridges Committee. Borrowing will “ease the burden on our city budget,” Gill said.
Southwest Ledger asked Deputy City Manager Dewayne Burk and Finance Director Rebecca Johnson whether the city would incur the debt via general-obligation or revenue bonds. In response, both said city officials are “working on a package to finance multiple projects” and the proposal will be submitted to the City Council for consideration.
It might be July before the “105 in ’25” mill-and-overlay program gets started, Gill said.
• In a related matter, T&G Construction of Lawton submitted its final bill for rehabilitation of 13 asphalt and concrete streets. The work included structural deep patching, milling and asphalt overlay, traffic striping, and other improvements.
The streets included Northeast Rogers Lane, Northwest Keystone Drive, Southwest 76th Street, Northwest Smith Avenue, Southwest Forest Avenue, Southwest Cherokee Avenue, Northwest Hunter Road, Northwest Horton Boulevard, Northwest Erwin, Northwest Quanah Parker, and Northwest 16th, 20th, and 29th streets.
The original contract was $3.92 million for 15 streets, but the final bill was reduced to $3.23 million for 13 streets. Of the projects’ 19 bid items, 12 experienced quantity changes; the cost of two items increased and 12 others decreased, resulting in a net contract that was $685,313 lower.
T&G completed all work except for two locations, on 12th and 14th streets, “where ongoing Public Utilities projects prevented completion,” Public Works Director Michael Watrous reported. Those two locations have been incorporated into the city’s Fiscal Year 2026 pavement maintenance program, he said.
• Traffic is being rerouted around two narrow, 92-yearold bridges on South 11th Street leading to the municipal landfill; one bridge spans Wolf Creek and the other crosses an overflow.
The two structures, which are scheduled for replacement, are south of the Interstate 44 overpass and were built in 1933, Watrous said.
The city has begun advertising for bids, which must be submitted by May 1 and will be opened on May 3.
A notice to proceed with construction is expected to be issued in mid-May, and the contract provides for 240 calendar days to complete the job. The new bridges will be 32 feet wide.
• Traffic also is being detoured on 38th Street between Gore and Lee boulevards.
T&G Construction won a $4.349 million bid contract to improve the mile-long section of the busy thoroughfare. T&G’s bid was 22.8% lower than the engineer’s $5.635 million estimate.
Approximately 1,200 square yards of the street will receive a relatively simple mill-and-overlay, records indicate. However, much of the street will receive “deep impact repair,” Gill said. That means sections of the street will be torn out down to the dirt for preparation of 1,500 cubic yards of Type A aggregate base (perhaps 2,500 tons of gravel) before new asphalt surfacing is poured.
The 38th Street job will be financed with ad valorem tax receipts, city records reflect. The repairs will take five to six months to complete, Gill said.
Rehabilitation of the targeted section of 38th Street has been a high priority for city officials for some time.
Thirty-eighth is a well-traveled four-lane traffic corridor in Lawton. In 2020 the street carried an average of 13,000 vehicles per day just north of the Ole Kim Lane entrance to Cameron University, and 9,900 vehicles per day a short distance south of Southwest J Avenue, an Oklahoma Department of Transportation traffic study showed.