Design firm to present concepts to Lawton city leaders for new LATS transfer center

Lawton’s elected leaders will receive a presentation today from the firm that will be designing LATS’ new indoor transfer center.

The City Council — acting in its capacity as the City Transit Trust and meeting at 1:30 p.m. — will receive the presentation from Wendel WD Architecture, which was awarded a contract earlier this month to design the indoor mass transit transfer center, as well as the maintenance/storage complex and an office facility for LATS, its staff and its fleet. The facilities will be built on a city-owned 6-acre tract between Larrance and Railroad streets, Southeast B to Southeast D avenues.

Trust members said at their Sept. 12 meeting that the $494,705 fee to be paid to Wendel WD Architecture will complete work that ranges from analysis and community meetings to construction plans. Community Services Director Charlotte Brown said the firm would send representatives to Lawton this week to begin its environmental study and site analysis, with the visit to include sessions with the transit subcommittee and council/transit trust to discuss details and show sketches of what they have planned.

Brown said those details will allow the firm to begin designs, with conceptual and preliminary designs on three facilities.

• A transfer center with space for dispatchers, a ticket counter to sell passes to LATS and other regional bus services using the facility (Greyhound already is using the outdoor center), passenger waiting area, restrooms and a break room for bus drivers. Holding space will be created for eight to 10 fixed route LATS buses and other buses, along with a parking area for other vehicles. Work will include any necessary utilities and road improvements.

• An operations facility with offices, restrooms, training and conference room, employee break room and other support features.

• A maintenance facility, with a bus wash bay, six to eight maintenance bays, paved area for parking buses and other LATS vehicles, additional parking for other vehicles, and a fueling station for traditional fuel pumps and an electrical charging station. Wendel WD Architecture also is to support LATS personnel who will seek a federal grant in 2024 to cover the cost of buying electric buses. LATS General Manager Ryan Landers has said LATS plans to move toward low-impact energy options for its fleet.

Work also will include construction cost estimates.

The Federal Transit Administration will cover 80 percent of the design fee, with the city’s 2019 Capital Improvements Program to fund the remainder.

The work by Wendel WD Architecture is providing Lawton with something city leaders have been promising passenger since LATS began operations: an indoor waiting area. Now, passengers riding fixed route buses wait in an open air transfer center along Southwest B Avenue, at Southwest 4th Street. The site has few amenities, beyond two glass-enclosed shelters, and drivers who need a break must rely on the nearby Lawton Public Library or a restaurant along Southwest C Avenue.

Administrative and maintenance space for LATS now is located in a leased area at Southwest 6th Street and Bishop Road. Landers said that facility no longer is large enough for maintenance needs, and the City of Lawton is limited on what it can do because federal funding cannot be used to improve a facility the city does not own.