Waterline work expected to disrupt Cache Road traffic for months

If you’re used to driving Cache Road in west Lawton, you might want to rethink your route.

Congestion is going to be an on-going issue on the arterial through the end of the year as work crews begin a waterline replacement project. Prep for the construction work means the outside (curbside) eastbound lane already has been closed between Northwest 67th and Northwest 52nd streets, providing a work lane where the 36-inch water main will be installed. To give eastbound drivers their customary two traffic lanes, crews also removed the markings on the arterial’s center turn lane, turning that lane into an eastbound travel lane. Cones mark the closed curbside lane, and serve as a dividing line between eastbound and westbound traffic.

City of Lawton officials have said the work on this one-mile segment is expected to last eight months, weather permitting.

The work is part of an overall project that will install new waterlines the length of Cache Road, from Northwest 67th Street on its west end and Fort Sill Boulevard on its east end.

City Council members selected two Oklahoma City construction firms to build the lines as part of two separate projects: a 36-inch waterline between Northwest 40th and Northwest 67th streets, awarded to Evans & Associates Utilities Services; and a 12-inch waterline from Northwest 38th Street to an area around the old Armed Services YMCA on the northern edge of Elmer Thomas Park, awarded to Cimarron Construction Company.

City officials have warned repeatedly that the work would disrupt traffic on Cache Road because lane closures will be necessary. The work also is to include a pedestrian bridge that will be built over Wolf Creek east of Northwest 47th Street, which will provide a route for pedestrians and a support system for a waterline segment that will be attached to the bridge’s underside.