From 105 in ‘25 to zero: Lawton’s road promise that never broke ground

The mill and overlay program was a huge initiative that the City of Lawton began back in 2023. What started as the ‘10 Wins for the Citizens’, with the city patching up ten roads, quickly expanded as the years went on. In 2024, Lawton was able to patch around 40 roads.

The infrastructure of Lawton’s streets has always been one of the more prevalent issues among the community. This program helped address some of those concerns. When 2025 came around, city officials decided to double what they were able to accomplish the year before and challenge themselves to mill and overlay 80 roads. However, when Lawton Mayor Stan Booker revealed his New Year Address video, he challenged the city to tackle 100 mill and overlay projects in 2025. 

“We promised you even more in ‘24, and we delivered, big time,” Booker stated.

Shortly after, the Streets, Bridges and Building Development Committee approved 105 roads for the year.

“They didn’t think that rhymed, so they changed it to ‘105 in ‘25,” Booker explained in a video posted to the City of Lawton YouTube page.

Now with the beginning of 2026, Dark Roast staff wanted to check in on the progress of these road projects. 

“I’d rather reach for the stars and miss than aim for the ground and succeed,” Booker said in his New Year Address.

In a phone interview with Committee Chair George Gill, the committee had actually added two more roads for the initiative. That created a total of 107. However, when Dark Roast asked about the status of these roads, we learned that none of 107 ever started construction. 

According to Gill, only four roads had been awarded through bid by the end of 2025. Gill explained the reason behind this was due to the city not having secured the funding. He said its state law that requires them to have money in place before they can begin.

Gill also stated that they weren’t able to establish funding until August or September of 2025. With that being said, Gill made a statement during the February 25, 2025 city council meeting that appeared to open gaps in his explanation.

“We’ll be going out for bids in two weeks,” Gill said during the meeting in February. “Bids on the first 24 streets of the next segment. That’ll be out of the 105 we approved at the last council meeting. So our program is really doing good and we’re continuing and we’re on schedule.”

This isn’t to say other road projects weren’t done over 2025. Gill said they’ve made a good amount of progress on the streets since this program started. However, with this yearlong gap in mill and overlay, some Lawton community members don’t feel enough has been done.

Mary Colfer is the owner of Mary’s Curious Goods in Lawton. While her business has been open for over 30 years, they just recently moved to a new location along Gore Blvd. While Colfer wasn’t familiar with this specific initiative, she is very familiar with Lawton's history of street conditions.

“It needs a lot of work,” Colfer said. “It’s always getting torn up.”

When told about the ‘105 in ‘25 and the current status of the project, Colfer was not surprised. Meanwhile, when asked about the concerns from the community, Gill said there’s never a right way to go about things as someone will be upset with the decision.

“To make the citizens happy is a pretty full-time chore,” Gill said. “There’s too much going on or not enough.”

For citizens like Colfer, they would rather see less frequent, but more permanent construction to the roads. She went on to explain that whenever the city has to constantly work on the same roads, it affects her business as it’s on one of the busiest streets in the town. Others praise the city council for the constant upkeep of the roads. 

“They probably have good intentions,” Colfer stated. “You can only patch it so many times before it falls apart.”

Despite this, Gill is confident that these roads will be completed in 2026. As of writing this article, Gill is no longer on city council. However, he said he will remain on the Streets, Bridges and Building Development Committee and continue his work on the mill and overlay program. The council plans to further address the initiative in the first regular council meeting of the year.

There were multiple other projects discussed during Booker’s 2025 New Year Address and while some weren’t completely delivered on, others were such as the Aquatic Center. As Mayor Booker prepares to give his New Year Address for 2026, your Dark Roast team will keep track of the projects promised and whether they come to fruition.