LAWTON – Lawton’s Streets and Bridges Council Committee has identified 10 street projects for the city to move to the top of its to-do list.
The committee, which is made up of Lawton City Councilmen George Gill, Allan Hampton and Kelly Harris, finalized its list during an Oct. 4 meeting at City Hall. Those recommendations will be presented to the entire council at today’s meeting, set for 2 p.m. at City Hall.
The list consists of streets that are eligible for repaving, but it does not include any major road rehabilitation projects, said Gill, who serves as committee chairman. He added that the city will continue fixing potholes and performing other repairs, in addition to the repaving projects.
“So many people that have already called me are a little bit confused,” he said. “Because when you say, ‘New roads,’ they’re thinking everything in Lawton that’s bad needs to be fixed and 38th is really bad, and it needs to be fixed. So, everything in its time.”
Last month, Lawton City Council asked the committee to work with the engineering firm EST on developing a list of at least 10 road projects that were eligible for repaving. Armed with the list, city officials will choose an easily completed task that must be finished by Thanksgiving as part of the city’s “Ten Wins for the Citizens, On Target On Time” initiative.
Hampton said the “Ten Wins” program will buy the city more time to develop a road maintenance plan.
“I don’t think it’s going to completely fix all of our roads, but it’s no doubt that we’re moving forward and trying to get a handle on getting our roads to that point,” he said.
Gill said the city could possibly tackle multiple projects simultaneously if it could find contractors for those tasks.
“We’re not going to try to do just one project at a time, at a time, at a time,” he said. “We’re going to try to do as many as we can get participation in, and hopefully it’ll be more than one at a time.”
Harris said some of the roads on the list have sections that are in good shape, while other segments need work.
“I thought some of the roads we looked at, they weren’t all bad, but they had sections that were small -- 20-, 30, 40-foot sections -- that need to be repaired,” he said. “We could maybe push them down the road if we repair them with concrete.”