Published: July 10, 2009 12:17 am      

Eminent domain would be last resort for roads

EDMOND — Roads are not being built fast enough in Edmond to keep up with traffic problems, said Gerald Wright, chairman of the city’s 2015 Transportation Task Force.

“It’s getting worse and not better,” Wright said at a task force meeting this week.

City Councilman Charles Lamb said the 2015 Transportation Task Force serves to assist City of Edmond staff and the City Council with recommendations on how to facilitate road improvements to accommodate four-lane road widening west of Interstate 35. It also assists the council with rights-of-way recommendations.

“There’s more rights-of-way opportunity for review than I think any of us have the capacity to accomplish,” said Clay Coldiron, task force member. “So what we want to look at is a narrow list of those priorities.”

Whether it be expanding roads or building new ones, the City of Edmond staff is competent in solving traffic congestion, Wright said. A burgeoning Edmond population of 83,000 residents makes it problematic for city government to keep pace with needed road construction, he said.

“We have so much demand on where our money is spent — our limited money available,” Lamb said. “It’s hard to get out there and build something before the crisis is there.”

Rights-of-way acquisition is the most expensive and time demanding part of completing a road project, Lamb said. Having rights-of-way established when projects are platted gives city government a faster method of building roads, he continued.

Litigation efforts to obtain rights-of-way sometimes become necessary. But litigation also slows the process of road building. Lost time results in escalating costs, he added.

“To be very candid, we need to keep eminent domain — the possibility of using eminent domain as a potential tool — a last resort tool nonetheless,” City Manager Larry Stevens said. “But when we’re talking about infrastructure needs — if people that have these pieces of property don’t believe we’re going to use that — it’s of absolutely no value to us.”

Planning opportunities also exist at intersections where development could avoid tight curb cuts to reduce traffic constraints, Lamb said.

He said that in order to help prevent conflicts, the city strives to communicate its rights-of-way needs early enough with people who would ultimately benefit from an area’s development.



jcoburn@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 114