Upgrade plans for South Sheridan Road delayed

Plans to upgrade a badly deteriorating segment of South Sheridan Road are going to have to wait awhile.

City Council members were to consider a city staff recommendation last week to designate Cowan Group Engineering to design construction plans for upgrades to the south Lawton arterial between West Lee Boulevard and one-half mile south of Bishop Road. The segment has long been identified by city staff as a priority upgrade because of the condition of the road surface, as well as the amount of commercial and residential traffic that uses it. City engineers recommended last week that the Oklahoma City-based Cowan Engineering Group be designated as the construction plan designer, under a $668,425 project that would range from traffic counts and geotechnical analysis to creating construction documents.

But Ward 4 Councilman George Gill objected and asked the council to delay the awarding of the contract because discussions had not gone through a council oversight committee, a recommendation the council unanimously accepted.

Gill said the selection process that ended with a recommendation to hire Cowan should have been forwarded to the engineering selection committee for discussion. It was not, Gill said, adding that there was no information sent to him or any other council representative on that committee. Council rules specify that any recommendation and selection must go to the engineering committee first.

“That does concern me,” Gill said, of the failure of the committee to review and participate in the process, adding the council has “a policy in place” and city staff did not follow it.

His recommendation: Refer the issue to the selection committee, where members can ask questions before making a recommendation that will come to the full council for a decision. Gill also directed comments directly to Cowan representatives, saying his objections have nothing to do with the firm or its work; rather, there was a policy that should have been followed and wasn’t.

The project is focused on rehabilitation or reconstruction of 1.5 miles of deteriorating roadway, with the engineering firm selected for the project to do work that includes collecting topographic data; utility, boundary and traffic counts; geotechnical investigations and pavement recommendations; evaluation of drainage areas and hydraulic analysis; preparing legal descriptions for right of way acquisition; and preparing construction plans. The contract also will include providing project management services for the actual construction work. Design work includes preliminary and final designs.