It has been more than 2 years since Weatherford voters approved a half-penny sales tax for improvements to roads in Weatherford.
Those improvements include improvements to Lyle Road, a 2-mile roadway which is tormented by stormwater drainage issues, especially during a heavy thunderstorm or a downpour. Matthew A. Coe of Myers Engineering explained and answered questions along with Mayor Mike Brown and Matt Flynn, Environmental & GIS Project manager, who handled the environmental side of this project at a public meeting at City Hall Thursday regarding the Lyle Road Project.
“All we are doing is relocating all the existing utilities out of the way for the road construction projects to begin,” Coe said. “There are several water lines and sewer lines which need to be moved. There also are some private utilities such as CenterPoint Energy, ONG and other power companies who have to relocate all their utilities prior to the road construction to begin.”
Construction timeline
Coe said the project could take some time.
“We are anticipating 6 months of construction,” Coe said. “We will be providing inspection on the job. After that, you will have some other utilities move out of the way and next year, the roadway construction will begin and that will be bid out through ODOT.”
Coe said he is just the design engineer and all the bidding will run through the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT).
“ODOT will be handling all the construction administration,” Coe said. “They will put it out for bid, they will receive the bids and will award it to a contractor.”
Coe said he plans to take the bid opening to July’s city comisson meeting, which is scheduled for July 31 and the bid opening is July 24.
“After the commission approves, it will take about 3 weeks to get the contracts finalized,” Coe said. “If approved, this should begin in early to mid-September.”
Mayor Brown said he is excited to see the improvement.
“We are getting close to getting this started,” Brown said.
Drainage concerns
While this project will begin in September, some Weatherford residents who live close to where the Lyle Road project will take place voiced their concerns at the public meeting Thursday. Michelle Stephens, who lives on EW 1000 Road said this could add to the problem they already have with flooding.
“We are very concerned as landowners who live right outside city limits,” Stephens said. “This project is going to cause increased flooding and property damage not only on my property, but down the road as well. We have a little bit of water coming across the road now and the way Mayor Brown and Matt Coe were talking, they are going to increase the flow rate out of the city and onto the EW 100 road and Deer Creek intersection. This really will hurt our property and our buildings.”
Stephens lives off EW. 1000 Road and said also it concerns her the city continues to build in the city limits with the increase in flooding on residents who are outside the city limits, which will be really bad.
“A lot of us are business owners in town,” Stephens said. “We visit them and are all part of the City of Weatherford, but we live right outside the city limits and the flooding will concern us.”
Kelly Walls Young, who lives on Deer Creek Road said they are sandwiched between Deer Creek and where all of these projects are happening, near Stephen’s residence.
“The frustrating thing is everything they are saying the city will be doing is true about working on the projects,” Young said. “However, what they are doing is having a direct effect on us who live on Deer Creek Road where all these projects are beginning to start.”
Mayor Mike Brown said he understands their frustration because of how this project could add to the flooding problem.
“There are no questions about flooding down there and it has been like this for the past 50 years which is the first problem,” Mayor Brown said. “Their concern is they are afraid with all of the redoing of Lyle Road and putting in more drainage structures, that will add to the flooding problem and it very well could. If I lived in this area, I would be concerned about it as well.”
Mayor Brown said the challenge the city has is they are doing a scope of work which includes Lyle Road and the drainage.
“We are following all of the guidelines and part of the issue to me is the county has something at stake,” Mayor Brown said. “This is not all coming from the city. The landowners and county are asking the city to fix the problem in my opinion. The residents want to get this fixed and not worry about more flooding and I understand. We are trying to work with landowners and the county, but this does not mean everyone will agree.”
A survey on Google Earth shows elevation being 1,627 above sea level at Lyle and Logan roads. Elevation at Lyle and EW 1,000 Road, which runs on the north side of Rader Park, is 1,604 feet. A mile east of there at the bridge across Dead Woman’s Crossing, elevation is shown to be 1,504 feet.
At the end of the meeting, Coe and Flynn opened the floor for questions. Residents asked some questions and brought up some concerns regarding the Lyle Road project.
Stephens said, “I am concerned about the runoff rate and how this is going to make it worse before it comes above the road. This really could hurt our property and buildings.”
The Lyle Road project is entirely in city limits, but the drainage area of concern is not within the City of Weatherford.
Coe responded by saying, “I agree with the flooding harming your property, but I do not agree this project is causing an adverse effect. What the city is doing is really not causing a big issue. We have looked at it and I have bent over backwards trying to figure out a way to help, but at the end of the day, this is a county problem. The county commissioner is up for election now and I suggest reaching out to some of the people running for county commissioner and asking them what their plans are regarding this.”
Stephens responded by saying, “As an engineer and not a politician, I really do not think I need that advice. I would like to talk to Mayor Brown and the city commission about what they can do to partner with the county and all of us who might be affected by this. As taxpayers, we also own property in the city limits and it is unfair to those of us out there to start increasing water flow out to our properties and across the road, causing flooding on us. Even more development is going to make it worse in that area.” Mayor Brown responded by saying, “The last week or two weeks, Coe, Yolanda Creswell and I met with the existing county commissioner. One of the challenges we have got is everyone recognizes there is a flooding problem. However, if Lyle Road is not fixed, that is another problem. One of the things which has really put us in a bind is there are landowners out there who are not willing to make concessions on their own land to make the problem better. They have forced it back to the city and county that we did not bring those problems along. I want to help as much as I can, but I said very early in this process another problem. When Coe looks at the scope of the property, Deer Creek really is not in the scope of the property. We understand water gets there, but the county commissioner told us some drainage study might be done to see what needs to be done on the county side. We are trying our best on the city side to fix this issue, but whatever we do is not going to solve the problem without the county doing something else.”
Stephens responded by saying, “So are you saying once the water begins to drain and starts coming faster and once it gets to that corner, it is not the city’s fault or problem and the rest of us are out of luck? Is that what I am hearing or am I missing something?” Mayor Brown responded by saying, “I think you are
Mayor Brown responded by saying, “I think you are missing something. The way I understand this is the way it is now, water arrives at the same time from the three different sources.”