Lawton officials ponder solutions to speeding on Northwest 6th Street

A Lawton councilman wants more time to study alternatives before making a decision that would place a Stop sign on a segment of Northwest 6th Street that has never had one.

City Council members ultimately decided to table a recommendation from the Traffic Commission to place a Stop sign on Northwest 6th Street, at Northwest Columbia Avenue.

Now, Northwest 6th Street is a through-street from West Gore Boulevard to Northwest Ferris Avenue, and is a popular route for those going to and from Elmer Thomas Park and the amenities offered there, including Museum of the Great Plains, McMahon Auditorium and, in the winter, Holiday in the Park. Now, its intersection with Northwest Columbia is controlled with Stop signs for eastbound and westbound traffic, the same system used at every cross street along Northwest 6th Street between Arlington and Euclid (a Stop sign controls northbound traffic at Northwest Ferris; signal lights, the traffic at West Gore Boulevard).

The recommendation by the Traffic Commission and the traffic engineer was in response to a request from a resident concerned about speeding traffic on Northwest 6th. Ward 5 Councilman Allan Hampton agreed there is a problem with traffic, which has become more acute after a recent mill and overlay project on the residential street improved the road surface.

“Some people take advantage of the smoothness and go fast,” Hampton said of traffic on the 25-mph street.

Hampton said a constituent is concerned about that speeding traffic, something city officials said is a larger issue because of youth who use 35th Division Park (on the east side of Northwest 6th Street, at Columbia), as well as those who may be walking to Washington Elementary (now a virtual school) two blocks to the west on Northwest 8th Street, or from the Villanova Apartment complex on Northwest 4th Street to the east.

The original request was for Stop or Yield signs on Northwest 6th, but Hampton said the city needed to look at “some options outside signs,” to include a speed table. That device could be installed on Northwest 6th Street as a means to slow traffic, Hampton said of a traffic control device successfully used in other residential neighborhoods.

“I’ll handle the speed tables,” he said, asking the council to table action indefinitely until he explores options.