Lawton City Council sets first priority list for street mill and overlay projects

Advertising for bidders is expected to get underway today for 10 Lawton streets slated for a mill and overlay project.

City Council members signed off on the project list Tuesday, as they launched what Mayor Stan Booker is calling 10 Wins for Citizens. In concise terms, the streets selected Tuesday are one-third of streets identified by an engineering analysis as candidates for a repair program projected to give them five to eight more years of life. A council study committee selected the 10, after consulting last week with city engineers and a private consulting firm that is helping the City of Lawton focus its attention and tax dollars on street upgrades.

“It’s a temporary fix, but still a five- to eight-year fix,” said Ward 4 Councilman George Gill, chairman of the Streets and Bridges Committee that recommended the 10 projects.

Gill said while this project will focus on mill and overlay – grinding off the top 1-2 inches of asphalt, then applying a new layer – it will go hand-in-hand with other street work being planned or already implemented through sources such as the Capital Improvements Program. Gill said Booker has insisted the initial projects be fast-tracked, with another batch of streets identified in early 2024. The ultimate goal is providing better road surfaces for residents.

“I think we’ll see results very soon,” Gill said, adding the proposal was to launch the bidding process Wednesday.

Chris Serrano, municipal director for consulting firm EST, said under that timetable, EST will be ready to recommend a winning bidder to the council at its first meeting in November.

Serrano estimated a $2.1 million cost for the 10 identified street segments. The figure pleased Booker, who said Lawton was getting upgrades on 10 streets for less than it would cost to rebuild the first mill and overlay street: Northeast Cache Road from Flower Mound Road to Northeast 45th Street.

Serrano said streets selected for mill and overlay are those whose surface is not in question, meaning the subgrade still is intact so work can focus on the surface. Committee members initially were puzzled by some recommendations because the street surfaces still are in good shape, but engineers said that’s the intent of the mill and overlay – to keep them in good shape.

But, some patching may be necessary.

Booker said he drives Northeast Cache Road daily and knows there are rough spots in the arterial. Serrano said those small areas can be repaired with “deep patching,” a process that removes a small segment of street down to the subgrade, then replaces it.

The mill and overlay project is expected to take 60 days weather permitting, city engineers said. Air temperatures will determine whether asphalt overlay can be done because specific surface temperatures are necessary.