City of Lawton moving to bidding phase for Goodyear Boulevard upgrade

A long-planned project to upgrade the west industrial park’s major access road is moving closer to construction.

The City Council voted unanimously March 12 to approve plans and specifications for the first of what will be a two-phase project to rebuild Goodyear Boulevard between West Lee Boulevard and Cache Road. The road is heavily traveled by the trucks that serve the industrial park’s tenants, and city staff members have been exploring funding options and plans to rebuild the deteriorating road for several years.

Council approval of the plans and specifications means the city can begin advertising for contractors who will tackle the first phase, a 1.3-mile section between Cache Road and the railroad tracks that are the northern boundary of the industrial park, just north of Neal Boulevard. City Engineer Joe Painter said city plans are to get that first section under way “so we can get it open.” Painter said Goodyear Boulevard can’t be completely closed because the city has to ensure vehicular traffic still has uninterrupted access to tenants, which is why the rebuild will occur in two phases.

He said Phase II will be put out for bids as soon as Phase I is open. Phase II will be the work between the railroad tracks and West Lee Boulevard. Phase I construction is calculated to take 200 days.

City staff anticipates bidding the construction project through April 13, for work that will include a complete rebuild of the road and related drainage work.

The project is being funded through the 2019 Capital Improvements Program. City staff also has been searching for grant funds, much as they did when the city received a Department of Commerce grant that covered the cost of the first phase of upgrades on Lee Boulevard.

The entire industrial road project, which engineers have estimated at $9.2 million, is playing into multiple upgrades the City of Lawton has planned for west Lawton. In addition to being linked to the Lee Boulevard upgrades, city and state officials also are exploring plans to create an industrial bypass by extending the existing Goodyear Boulevard (which now dead-ends at Cache Road) north and northeast to link into the U.S. 62/Rogers Lane bypass. That project is designed to remove heavy trucks from city arterials, council members have said.