Lawton City Council approves contract for Goodyear Boulevard rebuild

The City Council gave the go-ahead Tuesday for a second major road project in West Lawton.

Council members approved a $4.98 million contract with T&G Construction, allowing a rebuilding project to begin on Goodyear Boulevard. The street is the major access road for the west Lawton industrial park that includes the Goodyear plant, and the reconstruction project has been on the drawing board for several years.

Once work begins – city officials estimated that would be within the next 30 days – that work would join another major rebuild project: West Gore Boulevard between Southwest/Northwest 67th and Southwest/Northwest 82nd streets. Both projects are projected to last about a year. T&G’s contract time for Goodyear Boulevard is 200 days.

The work is the first of two phases that city officials said they would need to rebuild the industrial park’s major access point. City Engineer Joe Painter said rebuilding Goodyear Boulevard between Cache Road and the railroad tracks near Neal Boulevard (roughly 1.3 miles) would keep the road open between Neal Boulevard and West Lee Boulevard.

Painter said that road segment could be let for bids as soon as the northern part of Goodyear Boulevard is completed and reopened.

T&G Construction was one of four contractors bidding on the project, with bids for the asphalt alternative (the one selected) ranging from $4.98 million to $5.546 million. Concrete bids on the same section ranged from $5.18 million to $9.54 million.

Duit Construction began work earlier this month on the West Gore Boulevard project, which is rebuilding that West Lawton arterial to four travel lanes and a center turn lane. The $13.78 million project also includes drainage improvements. Construction is being coordinated by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, which is providing 80 percent of construction funds.