CHICKASHA – In a split decision, the Chickasha City Council voted to allow the state Transportation Department to use acreage at Lake Chickasha for “stream and wetland mitigation” related to the US-81 bypass project.
To comply with terms of the 1977 federal Clean Water Act, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation must obtain a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) when one of its road and bridge projects has a significant effect on streams, wetlands, or “other aquatic resources.”
The US-81 bypass project south and west of Chickasha “will be impacting wetlands and streams” and thus will require a USACE “mitigation” permit.
Consequently, the City of Chickasha is “willing to cooperate on a mitigation project” to be developed on 109 acres of city-owned property at Lake Chickasha in order to offset the loss of streams and wetlands in the bypass route.
Under terms of the city/state memorandum of agreement:
• Fencing will be erected to exclude cattle from the land, “which includes approximately 5,424 linear feet of Stinking Creek,” one of the lake’s two feeder sources.
• A forested riparian buffer will be established “along the stream enhancement” with native tree species within about 50 feet on either side.” Saplings will be planted “at a rate of approximately 300 stems per acre to ensure a final surviving stem count of 150 stems per acre.”
• Enhancement “will occur on approximately 22.82 acres of forested wetland and 27.64 acres of emergent wetland” adjacent to Stinking Creek.
• No filling, excavation, or alteration of the mitigation areas will be allowed unless the Corps of Engineers approves it.
• No mowing, herbicide treatment (except as necessary to control growth of non-native/invasive species), or livestock grazing will be allowed within the mitigation areas.
• Monitoring and reporting of the mitigation site for compliance with the terms of the permit will be conducted “at least annually for five years” or until the Corps of Engineers confirms that performance standards have been met.
ODOT will be financial responsible for mitigation needs “to meet success criteria” outlined in the mitigation plan. ODOT will pay for all of its contractors’ expenses.
The terms of the MOA will continue through the duration of the mitigation project construction “and the following five or more years” of the monitoring period “until the performance standards of the USACE permit and mitigation plan are met.”
The city “will not take responsibility for deviations from planned mitigation objectives based on natural events such as flood damage, drought, etc.” The city will retain long-term management of the site after all USACE permit requirements have been completed.
Councilmen Charlie Burruss and John Smith raised objections to the MOA.
“This seems to be an ODOT issue, not a Chickasha issue,” Burruss said, and he wanted to know “whether anybody can stop it.”
No, City Manager Jim Crosby said. “We signed an agreement with ODOT in 2019” for construction of a US-81 bypass in order to move heavy truck traffic off downtown city streets, particularly Choctaw Avenue. Semi-trailer trucks hauling heavy loads have trouble navigating the intersection of Choctaw Avenue and Fourth Street, Mayor Zach Grayson noted.
“We’re committed to the bypass project,” Crosby pointed out afterward. “The state has bought the necessary land, the city has moved its water and sewer lines out of the bypass route and dirt work has already started.”
“ODOT needs this, so we’re in a position to negotiate,” Smith said. “We own that land” at the lake, “so what is ODOT going to give us instead of us just giving it away?”
“This is nothing new,” Councilman Clark Southard said. “We asked them to move heavy traffic off Fourth Street.”
Burruss made a motion to postpone the vote indefinitely, but it failed on a 6-2 vote: Burruss and Smith, yes; Kim Irving, Lisa Hatchett, Georgianne Hebblethwaite, Erica Alexander, Grayson and Southard, no.
A countermotion to approve the agreement passed, also by a 6-2 vote: Irving, Hatchett, Hebblethwaite, Alexander, Southard and Grayson, yes; Smith and Burruss, no.
US-81 realignment a multi-year project The realignment will feature construction of eight miles of a full access-controlled highway from just north of the SH-19 junction to north of the US-62 junction on the west side of town, Mills Leslie with ODOT’s Strategic Communications Division told Southwest Ledger in February 2024.
The multiple projects will take more than three years to complete. The city has already moved its water and sewer lines that were buried in what will be the new route, City Manager Jim Crosby confirmed.
Eventually the US-81 bypass project will include construction of four traffic lanes, six new interchanges and multiple bridges, at a “rough” estimated cost of $250 million to $300 million, Leslie said. Initially a two-lane highway will be constructed, “then hopefully we’ll add two more lanes later, depending on funding availability.”
Construction of the first two lanes will take approximately 900 days – two and a half years – to complete, records indicate. The next phase will consist of bridges constructed at the county and city street level, Leslie said.
The impact to traffic should be minimal, “as all of this will be constructed to the west of town,” she said.
Major safety and congestion-relief benefits of the realignment “will include moving freight traffic, including heavy commercial truck and oilfield traffic, out of downtown Chickasha – specifically Choctaw Avenue (US62) and Fourth Street (US-81) – onto the new alignment,” Leslie said.