LAWTON - Installation of new traffic control equipment at 11 intersections along almost six miles of Gore Boulevard started recently and is expected to continue through October, the Lawton City Council was told Tuesday night.
“The equipment has been acquired,” and installation is expected to take one week per intersection — from Lawrie Tatum Road to 67th Street — “if no major unforeseen obstacles are encountered,” Public Works Director Rusty Whisenhunt said. City crews are performing the installation and programming, he said.
To date, the new equipment has cost $78,000, and the estimated maximum cost is $100,000, city officials said.
The Lawrie Tatum, Railroad and 2nd Street intersections “have alreadv been uoeraded,” he informed the council, and work on the 6th Street intersection was completed Wednesday, he told Southwest Ledger.
The upgrades at Railroad, 2nd Street, 6th Street, Fort Sill Boulevard, and 17th Street include installation and configuration of new traffic signal control equipment, malfunction management units, GPS time-base coordination equipment, and flashing yellow arrow LED signal modules.
The work at Fort Sill Boulevard is tentatively scheduled to start Aug. 31, and the 17th Street work is set to begin Sept. 7.
Improvements at Sheridan Road and Gore Boulevard will include a new traffic signal controller, a malfunction management unit, GPS time-base coordination equipment, flashing yellow arrow LED signal modules, and a four-section protected/ oermissive signal head.
Whisenhunt said. That work is slated to start Sept. 14.
The upgrades at 27th and Gore and at 31st and Gore, in the vicinity of the hospital, are expected to start Sept. 21 and conclude on or about Oct. 4. Those improvements will include a traffic signal controller, a malfunction management unit, GPS timebase coordination equipment, and flashing yellow arrow LED signal modules.
Work on the traffic control equipment at 38th Street and Gore Boulevard is scheduled to start Oct. 5 and will include new traffic signal control equipment, malfunction management equipment, GPS time-base coordination equipment, four-section protected/permissive signal heads, and yellow arrow LED modules.
The projects at Sheridan Road and at 38th Street “will be the most complicated ones,” Whisenhunt told the council.
Upgrades to the traffic control systems on Gore at 53rd and 67th streets also will be performed in October, and will include new traffic signal control equipment, malfunction management units, and GPS time-base coordination equipment.
The equipment that’s being installed is based on a signal timing plan that consulting engineers from WSB proposed, Chris Serrano, director of municipal services for WSB, confirmed.
The traffic analysis focused on development of optimized and, when practical, coordinated traffic signal timing plans for Gore Boulevard within the city limits. Existing signal timing plans were evaluated. Prioritization criteria was identified, and modifications are being made to the timing at each of the 11 intersections “to minimize or balance the impact to the cross street,” WSB reported.
The study included an update to the yellow, red, and pedestrian clearance intervals for all traffic signals.
WSB collected 48-hour traffic counts and intersection turning movement counts, including passenger cars, light trucks, heavy vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians. Data was compiled for weekdays and weekends alike at the signalized intersections along the corridor. Weekday and weekend traffic counts were reviewed “to determine the need for time-of-day traffic signal timing,” WSB related.
In addition, data was collected when the schools were in session “to represent the peak operational characteristics,” Serrano said.
Periodically during City Council meetings, Mayor Stan Booker reminisces about ‘the good ol’ days’ when he could drive from the east side of town to the west side, at 36 miles per hour, allegedly without ever having to stop at a traffic light.