Road projects to be funded if Lawton voters agree to extend ad valorem program

City of Lawton officials want to do $37 million worth of street work with the new revenue that would be generated by extending Lawton’s Ad Valorem Streets Improvements Program.

City leaders already have identified five improvement projects that they said would be leading the pack, as far as streets that will be repaired, overlaid or replaced with the funds that will be allocated toward streets in an ad valorem program that is expected to generate $60 million over its 10-year life.

The projects are listed in the details that City of Lawton officials are using as talking points for the new ad valorem program, but priorities haven’t yet been assigned. Ward 4 Councilman George Gill, chairman of the council’s new Streets and Bridges Committee, said last month city staff would be analyzing those five projects and bringing them back to the committee with recommendations for priorities, so city officials could direct the work to begin if voters agree to provide extra ad valorem revenue.

But those priorities are subject to change, something the ballot resolution allows and something city staff and City Council members said is inevitable, given weather extremes, clay soil and the condition of some Lawton streets.

“Priorities are going to shift over the years,” said City Engineer Joseph Painter, adding city staff still is analyzing the five suggested streets under a program that targets them for repair and resurfacing.

City officials say the idea is to address potholes, cracks and other deterioration that could lessen the lifespan of those major streets. Not that work isn’t already under way: Painter said there is “a lot going on, in our roadways,” with some upgrades already scheduled and work slated to begin on others in the near future. New funding will mean more street work, with city officials indicating they will decide on exactly what work will be done.

Gill and other members of the Streets and Bridges Committee made clear that a formal street maintenance program is essential if city officials want to get ahead of the curve, in terms of improving street surfaces. While some rebuilding in inevitable, Gill said the city must take a different approach than it has in the past.

“We need to concentrate more on resurfacing, rather than rebuilding,” he said, adding that is a decided change from years past, when roads in bad condition were rebuilt without analysis to see if they could be repaired for less money.

“If it’s salvageable at all, we’ll resurface,” he said, adding the priority for rebuilding should be on streets “that are completely gone.”

Gill and other council members said they also want a maintenance program that takes another factor into account: one of the top drivers in road damage is accumulated water. That means focusing attention on the drainage structures that funnel water away from roads and other surfaces. Streets Superintendent Cliff Haggenmiller said some of those drainage structures are 20-30 years old, with Gill saying there is adequate evidence some have not been maintained — mature trees growing in channels, for example.

Committee members also are pressing for development of an eight-year streets priority plan, similar to the planning document the Oklahoma Department of Transportation sets into place to guide funding for road and bridge projects across the state.