Water installation project slated to begin Thursday on Meadowbrook

A new water main installation project is beginning this week on Meadowbrook.

Southwest Water Works won a $5.99 million contract in late November to handle two waterline projects, including a 12-inch main that will be installed along Meadowbrook between Northwest 38th and Northwest 53rd streets. The $3.378 million Meadowbrook phase was set to begin earlier this week, but was delayed by cold weather and rain, said Public Utilities Supervisor Rusty Whisenhunt.

Crews already are on site, preparing holes for the installation of 12-inch pipe and that pipe is supposed to start going into the ground Thursday, Whisenhunt said. Pipeline already is on site in various yards along Meadowbrook.

Work crews will install one block of water main at a time, putting the pipe into the ground and testing it, then putting the new line into service before moving to the next block segment. A restoration crew will come in behind the installation crew, to restore the front yards and driveways of residents along the length of Meadowbrook, Whisenhunt said. There may be some interruptions in water service when residential service lines are connected to the new main, but affected residents will be notified by hanging notices, city officials said.

Pipeline will be installed on the north side of Meadowbrook between Northwest 38th and Northwest 49th streets, then move to the south side of the street between Northwest 49th and Northwest 53rd streets. Installation work will include new 5-foot-wide sidewalks, Whisenhunt said.

City officials also are warning drivers that traffic will be delayed in the area for the duration of the project. Meadowbrook is a major access point for that square mile of Lawton.

“They’re not allowed to totally close it,” Whisenhunt said of the work crew, explaining one lane of Meadowbrook will remain open to help local traffic.

Meadowbrook isn’t the only waterline installation project that Southwest Water Works is handling.

Next week, a second crew is slated to begin installation of 12-inch main along Southwest 67th Street, $2.615 million worth of work that will place new line along the west side of Southwest 67th Street between Bishop Road to just south of Coombs Road, then west along Bishop Road one-half mile.

“They’re about a week behind the Meadowbrook crew,” Whisenhunt said, adding he expects that second crew to start along Bishop Road, then move to Southwest 67th Street and work south.

He said the work should progress much more quickly than the Meadowbrook project will.

“There’s not as much in their way,” he said, of a project intended to increase water pressure for residential properties which have inadequate fire flow (meaning, enough water pressure to fight fires).