Lawton City Council to consider awarding contracts for Goodyear Boulevard, landfill work

City Council members will be looking at a variety of construction projects today, as they make decisions on selecting contractors or approving changes in work already under way.

Work to rebuild the west industrial park’s major access road will be going to T&G Construction Inc., under a recommendation by city engineers. The Lawton firm bid $4,982,600 for what city administrators say is Phase 1 of a two-phase project to rebuild Goodyear Boulevard.

Phase 1 will focus on the 1.3-mile segment between old Cache Road and the railroad tracks near Neal Boulevard. City Engineer Joe Painter has said the preferred method for upgrading Goodyear Boulevard is in two parts, so part of the industrial road will remain accessible to the heavy truck traffic that carries materials to and from industrial park tenants. Once the first segment is completed, the city will launch a project to rebuild the road between the railroad tracks/Neal Boulevard and West Lee Boulevard.

Four firms submitted bids on the 200-day construction project, with asphalt bids (which is what was awarded) ranging from $4.982 million to $5.546 million. Concrete bids ranged from $5.18 million to $9.5 million.

The work is one of two major projects associated with Goodyear Boulevard. City of Lawton and State of Oklahoma officials also are looking at a project to build an industrial bypass for the area by extending Goodyear Boulevard north so it can access U.S. 62/Rogers Lane.

Council members also will look at awarding a contract for construction of two new cells for the city landfill to 4X Construction Group LLC. The firm bid $3,841,081.25 on a 260-day project to build two cells (debris dump areas) with liner, work that extends the life of the facility. Costs cited by the four firms submitting bids ranged from $3,081,581 to $4,603,060 for the base bid, which is work on the cells and liner (an alternate bid to bring protective soil from off-site sources was removed).

In other business, the council will consider a change that would increase an $84.8 million project at the wastewater treatment plant by $1.038 million.

That contract, awarded to Wynn Construction, is upgrading the aging plant and its deteriorating systems, to allow the facility to come into complete compliance with water treatment standards.

Change order one, which will increase the total contract cost by 1.2 percent and add 180 work days, will replace three unserviceable blowers with four new ones. Blowers are the source of oxygen for the aeration basins and are essential for the activated sludge-handling system, Public Utilities Director Rusty Whisenhunt said in his agenda commentary. City administrators say this change order will allow ordering and purchase of the necessary equipment. A second change order will be needed at a later date for the demolition of existing blowers and installation of the new ones.

The council also will consider a staff recommendation for a change to a construction project already awarded to MTZ Construction, a $6.35 million project to rebuild nine streets in various areas of Lawton under the Ad Valorem Streets and Roads Program. The change would add $30,750 to the original contract, compensating the contractor to replacing what was originally a 4×2 reinforced concrete box with a 7×2 box.