LAWTON — “We are doing what we can with what we have,” Lawton’s streets and traffic control superintendent told the City Council. “We have limited resources,” Cliff Haggenmiller said during a briefing and discussion March 7 about potholes.
Last year the city’s Street Division pledged that potholes or other street issues reported by the public would be repaired within 72 hours.
The “72-hour rule is not hard and fast,” but it is a goal city street crews strive to attain, Haggenmiller indicated.
Hot-mix asphalt is typically used to patch potholes but cannot be used when the ground temperature falls below 50 degrees, he said.
Other materials for making street repairs, such as cold patch asphalt or recycled pavement, are available. However, the alternative can be more expensive -- $1.65 for hot mix per typical pothole versus $45 for the alternate material – and is not necessarily more durable, Haggenmiller said.
“There are very few simple potholes,” he said. “Most are symptoms of the road’s deterioration.”
One example is Gore Boulevard west of 67th Street, and 38th Street near Cameron University is “pothole after pothole after pothole” because the street is the end of its design life, Haggenmiller said.
City crews have patched more than 1,000 potholes in Lawton streets in the last four years, he said.