City of Okemah

PROJECT PURPOSE

Okemah has a very old WPA ditch that runs through the center of the southside of the town. As you can see from the maps I have included the main area that is in need is on Ash Street from First Street to Woody Guthrie. The CIty of Okemah recently had a new Business Development of American Exchange Bank in the area and unfortunately in this same area we are experiencing erosion moving towards their parking lot to the south of their building. The costs to replace this area of the WPA ditch will be between $650,000 to $1.3 million depending on which materials are used in the project. The ultimate goal would be to use the Reinforced concrete box design with landscaping on the top of the box. The area is challenged by having fiber and other utilities in the area which will need to moved which of course adds to the cost of the overall project.

EVIDENCE

The City of Okemah has had multiple complaints from the businesses in the area as well as the citizens who view this as a hazard. With the current damage to the WPA ditch we are not having the flow through of storm water that is efficient during some of our more treacherous rainstorms.

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

According to Indian Health Services we have approximately 46% of a Native American population. Due to this very ditch winding around the city many of our residential areas are impacted due to the buildup of storm water in the area of Ash Street. This creates a terrible buildup of sludge coming in from all of the other sections of the ditch which can't flow through the damaged portion of this project. Our community was greatly impacted with the pandemic in that the ability for our residents to stay in Okemah to buy necessities is limited. We must be able to improve our infrastructure in order to create a more viable Economic Development area. This project is a part of what the city needs infrastructure wise to attract additional businesses to the area which in turn will create more sales tax and more business opportunities.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

This project will offer immediate results in that the erosion and future damage to Economic Development in the area will no longer be a threat. The water will obviously flow better and more efficiently. This project if inclusive of the reinforced concrete box with landscaping is used will prevent any vehicular accidents in this block by not having an open rock ditch for someone to drive off in to.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

One-time project will not need continued funding