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Service & Technology Corporation (STC) issues its Pathfinder Parkway assessment report to the City of Bartlesville.

According to Bartlesville’s City Beat, the results suggest that the bird sanctuary in Robinwood Park, a culvert between the former Will Rogers Elementary School on Frank Phillips Boulevard and Sooner Park, and the path north of the Riverside RV Park at Adams Boulevard and Quapaw Avenue are the sites along the trail system that are the most in need of repairs.

In September 2021, the Bartlesville City Council voted unanimously to approve a contract with STC of Bartlesville for general engineering services for improvements to the City-owned Pathfinder Parkway trail system — as well as the preparation of a needs assessment report that will help prioritize Pathfinder projects.

In a statement, Director of Engineering Micah Siemers said:

"As part of that assessment, STC was tasked with ranking sections of the trail so that we can plan future rehabilitation projects. Also part of the contract was to design the first phase of projects along the trail based upon funding currently available as part of our capital budget. We already had a few projects identified to address some drainage issues and some fencing along the trail, but the design would also incorporate some pavement rehabilitation based upon the assessment."

The STC analysis rates the trail system based on three areas: Severe, Moderate, and Minor deterioration and recommends that replacement, repair or maintenance be completed in three phases.

Phase 1 recommended projects include the following areas:

• Replacement of the path through the bird sanctuary at Robinwood Park
• Replacement of a culvert located between Paths to Independence (formerly Will Rogers Elementary) School and Sooner Park
• Asphalt overlay of the path north of Riverside RV Park near Adams Boulevard and Quapaw Avenue
• Rehabilitation of the path between the Cherokee Bridge and Bartlesville Ready Mix
• Rehabilitation of the path at the Polaris Trailhead (near OKWU baseball field)

Phase 2 involves repairs to several path areas, culverts and uphill stabilizations, as well as work to the Caney River Pedestrian Bridge, located between Bartlesville High School and Silver Lake Road. And Phase 3 includes recommended replacement of deteriorated path in several areas throughout the system.

Siemers says STC is currently working on the design, and the project should likely be bid sometime later this summer. While current funding may not be sufficient to address everything recommended for Phase 1, Siemers says they will do as much as possible with the first project. He says staff will make recommendations to the City Council for future Pathfinder projects based upon the recommendations in the assessment.

The assessment is not an exact blueprint for Pathfinder projects in the future. Siemers says there will always be consideration of citizen, staff and council input, and projects that may arise that are not currently an issue on the trail. He says anytime you have a trail system that primarily follows creeks, rivers, and generally lies in the floodplain, there will be other immediate needs that pop up from year to year, too.

Ongoing repairs have been made to the Pathfinder trail system with voter approval of funding in the 2013 Half-cent CIP Sales Tax extension election, the 2018 and 2020 G.O. Bond elections and the 2020 Half-cent CIP Sales Tax elections. There is currently about half a million dollars in allocated project funding that will be used to address items identified in Phase 1 of the assessment, along with two projects already identified — a washout repair near the Shawnee trail head and construction of fencing along the trail north of the Caney River Bridge at Tuxedo Boulevard.