Lawton ready to proceed with designs for first indoor mass transit center

City Transit Trust members have approved a contract with Wendel WD Architecture, allowing design work to begin for Lawton’s first indoor mass transit transfer center.

Trust members, who also are the City Council, took the action last week, authorizing the scope of work and the $494,705 fee that will allow Wendel WD Architecture to complete work that ranges from analysis and community meetings to construction designs for the three complexes outlined for the LATS project: a new mass transit center, an office complex and a maintenance/storage facility. The buildings are to be located on a 6-acre tract the council designated as LATS’ new home, city-owned land between Larrance and Railroad streets, Southeast B to Southeast D avenues.

Community Services Director Charlotte Brown said approval means the firm can begin its environmental study and analysis of the site. She said Wendel WD Architecture representatives plan to be in Lawton the week of Sept. 25, meaning they would be available to do “a quick presentation” to the council and meet with transit subcommittee to discuss details and show sketches of what they have planned.

“They’ll be in town three days,” Brown said, of an “immersion” that will allow the firm to begin its design process.

The agreement directed by the transit trust/council specifies Wendel will provide services from conceptual designs to final construction, to include a project cost estimate. Funding from the Federal Transit Administration will cover 80 percent of the design fee, with the city’s Capital Improvement Program to fund the remainder.

The design firm is providing Lawton with something it has been promising LATS passengers for more than 20 years: an indoor waiting area. Now, passengers riding fixed route buses must wait in an open air transfer center located 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 offices and maintenance space for buses is contained within an area LATS leases at Southwest 6th Street and Bishop Road, adjacent to the Public Works Yard. LATS Director Ryan Landers has said that facility no longer is large enough for LATS maintenance needs. City officials are limited on what they can do there because federal funding cannot be used to make improvements on a facility the city does not own.

Wendel WD Architecture has said its work will include public meetings, as well as “outreach” with local and regulatory stakeholders. Officials have said their “immersion” process is intended to help the firm design a facility that meets Lawton’s needs today, as well as into the future. Council members have said they intended the initial transfer center to provide only the basic necessities, but city officials also have said they want a facility that could meet the needs of other transit companies. Greyhound already is using LATS’ transfer center as a daily pickup site for passengers.

Along with design work, Wendel also will help LATS management in its plan to seek FTA low- or no-emission grants to help fund the purchase of electric buses. Landers has said major transit systems are moving away from traditional fueled buses because the federal government is emphasizing low- and no-emission vehicles.