City of Lawton officials adding a temporary option as they plan for a new bike route

City of Lawton officials still plan to move part of a bike trail leading into Elmer Thomas Park. But, they now are weighing a temporary route.

The City Council will hold a public hearing Jan. 9 to close a public access easement that Lawton Public Schools granted in 2013 to take the Elmer Thomas Park Connector across Fort Sill Boulevard into the park via open space between Central Middle School and Shoemaker Education Center. By law, the council cannot close a public easement without giving the public a chance to comment. That hearing had been set Dec. 12, but notification problems forced the city to move the public hearing until Jan. 9.

The closure is necessary because Lawton Public Schools wants the property back, as the district finalizes plans to install security fencing around Central Middle School, Lawton High School and a portion of Shoemaker Education Center.

City staff members have said they don’t want to close that easement until they identify another pathway into the park. And, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation — which provides transportation funding to the community — said local officials cannot close the existing route until they designate a temporary bike path. That route would remain until the permanent path is created.

City officials had been pondering two options for a new permanent route: taking the path north along the east side of Fort Sill Boulevard then east along Cache Road into the park, or completely moving the path to Northwest Ferris Avenue. The trail now leaves Northwest Ferris at Northwest 21st Street to wind through a residential neighborhood before reaching a pedestrian crossing light in the 700 block of Fort Sill Boulevard.

City staff members like the Northwest Ferris alternative, which would taken the connector south on Northwest 6th Street between Lawton High School and McMahon Auditorium to Northwest Ferris, then west on Northwest Ferris. That proposal, at an estimated cost of $50,557, has drawn criticism because of what would be done to Northwest Ferris: re-marking the four-lane segment between Fort Sill Boulevard and North Sheridan Road into two travel lanes and a center turn lane, leaving enough space for designated bike lanes.

A City Council study committee recommends the first option: a $34,492 project to take the path north on Fort Sill Boulevard then east on Cache Road. That option would mean widening 190 feet of existing sidewalk to 10 feet, and installing 270 feet of new 10-foot-wide sidewalk, for a total cost of $34,492.

Community Services Director Charlotte Brown said the council also must set a temporary detour as it decides on a permanent solution. That detour would move what now is a segment north of Northwest Ferris that uses Elm, Cherry and Laird, to the south side of Northwest Ferris. That detour is simple: turn south onto Northwest Dearborn from Northwest Ferris, then follow Dearborn all the way to Northwest 6th Street. A designated bike lane already exists on Northwest Ferris into Elmer Thomas Park, city planners said.

Brown said members of the Lawton Metropolitan Planning Organization technical and policy boards both recommended that temporary route when they met Tuesday. The boards discussed the matter because they had to vote to amend the city’s transportation plan to include the new bike path, and ODOT told the boards and city staff that anything that results in the “severance of an existing major route or have significant adverse impact on the safety for non-motorized transportation traffic and light motorcycle” means the city must provide a replacement detour before the original route is closed. That detour must remain until a permanent route is set, ODOT said.

Brown said city staff plans to present that proposal to the council at the Jan. 9 public hearing.