City officials ready to move into construction designs for LATS center

City of Lawton and mass transit officials are ready to launch the design process that will provide construction plans for Lawton’s first indoor transfer center for LATS riders.

An indoor facility to replace the outside facility at Southwest 4th Street and Southwest B Avenue has been a dream of city officials almost as long as LATS has existed, giving both LATS riders and bus drivers somewhere they can wait out the weather, grab a soft drink or use the bathroom. The new indoor facility will be built on Railroad Street, just south of the Lawton Public Safety Complex, but progress has slowed in recent months as officials debate exactly what the facility will be: a stand-alone indoor transfer center or an entire mass transit complex.

The decision was made — a transfer center only — and now that Wendel WD Architecture has completed 30 percent (preliminary) designs, it’s time to move into the 70 percent (construction) designs that would actually allow the complex to be built.

City officials made that decision in early February, following federal mandates that require them to put that design project out for bids to find a contractor to do that work, and officials already are seeking proposals.

The preliminary designs also have merit: LATS General Manager Ryan Landers said 30 percent designs are the minimum that Hendrickson Transportation Group will need as it continues searching for grants to help fund construction of a transfer center that has been estimated at $3.17 million to $3.6 million.

“We’re looking for federal dollars,” Landers said earlier this month.

Landers said the goal is to build the LATS complex in phases, with the indoor transfer center being Phase I. Future options would add administrative offices and a storage/maintenance complex, areas that will remain in south Lawton for now as city officials seek to lessen costs so the transfer center can be built.

City officials said options for that center are being explored, such as keeping a building already on the site that Lawton Police Department uses as a storage facility (a new area would be placed elsewhere). Landers said using the existing building would bring down the cost of the construction project.

Members of the City Council’s Downtown Transfer Center Committee also weighed options for exactly what that transfer center will look like, deciding on a “hybrid” model that blends some brick work with facade. Ward 4 Councilman George Gill, who has a background in construction, said while full brick would need less maintenance, it also would be more costly to build.

Engineers expect it to take six to nine months to finish construction designs, once the design firm has been selected, said Deputy City Manager Dewayne Burk. Lawton has the money in place to fund those designs. Landers said LATS already has two federal grants in hand, awarded on an 80/20 basis, which means the City of Lawton will have to come up with a 20 percent local match for the $800,000 in grant funds.

Gill said while grants are important, they won’t dictate construction.

“We’re going to build this, with or without grants,” Gill said of the transfer center, adding he also wants a firm construction timeline with a completion date.

That transfer center would be the first indoor facility provided in LATS’ history, with space for passengers who also could buy tickets, as well as break room and restroom facilities for LATS drivers who now must rely on the nearby Lawton Public Library and commercial businesses when the library is closed.