City planning to close South 11th Street bridges by March 31

Drivers who use a portion of South 11th Street will have to find another route by month’s end.

City of Lawton officials are working toward a March 31 closure date for the two Wolf Creek bridges on South 11th Street, structures located between the Interstate 44 ramp and the entrance to the City of Lawton Landfill. The structures, whose lateral beams are badly deteriorated, were weight-restricted to vehicles that weigh 13 tons or less in Spring 2022, and design plans are being crafted to replace them. While the bridges have been open for use by lighter weight vehicles, they now will be completely closed until they are replaced.

State officials have warned the City of Lawton it must take action on the bridges, or the state would closure the structures to all traffic. The City of Lawton already has rerouted the heavy sanitation trucks that had crossed the bridges to access the landfill, but other drivers continue to use the structure.

Design plans for the rebuild project are 90 percent complete, with city officials anticipating a bid-letting in June and a construction start date in July, said Acting City Engineer Mike Jones. That project, estimated at 240 days, already would have completely closed the bridges, but city staff and some members of the City Council’s Streets and Bridges Committee support the idea of closing the bridges now.

Public Works Director Michael Watrous said some people are reporting that overweight trucks (meaning, those weighing more than 13 tons) are still going over the bridge, as they access the city landfill.

“We’re not going to keep it open,” he said, of the deteriorating bridges.

Watrous said city staff explored the idea of keeping the bridges open, but limiting them to one traffic lane at a time. But, that would be a costly venture for four months, he said of the time left until the construction project begins.

“We don’t have the money,” said Ward 4 Councilman/Streets and Bridges Committee Chair George Gill, of a projected cost of $10,000 just for lane control.

Watrous said that is why city staff is acting on engineering recommendations and making plans to completely close the bridges within two weeks, or on March 31. Signs will be erected warning of the closure, as well as directing traffic to a bypass route that will involve using Interstate 44 and exiting at the Geronimo exit (U.S. 277), then traveling north on South 11th Street to reach the landfill.

While South 11th Street is the most direct route to the landfill for Lawton vehicles, the majority of the City of Lawton’s solid waste vehicles cannot use it because they weigh more than 13 tons. Those trucks now are using Tinney Road and Pecan Road to access the landfill, adding additional miles that add $15 to $20 per load for each truck that travels to the landfill to dump waste, Watrous has said.

City administrators said the road closure is a temporary measure, similar to any road closure associated with a reconstruction project. Gill, arguing the proposal needs to be presented to the full council, said the city doesn’t really have an option.

“If something happens, we will be held responsible,” Gill said.