Stillwater's orange revolution
The color is everywhere in town — on construction signs
Stillwater's orange revolution

By Chad Previch

Published: August 24, 2007

STILLWATER — Jenny Daffern spent a sunny Wednesday afternoon walking her two dogs around Stillwater, where she has lived for 13 years. She didn't have to go far to notice things are different.

"The construction has gotten out of hand,” she said. "It's sad seeing all of the landmarks and the old families leave. I understand it's got to happen but at the same time, it's sad to see.

"Things change, but I don't want it to turn into all asphalt.”

Humming and beeping from construction machinery, along with skeletons of buildings under construction, are obvious throughout the city best known as the home of Oklahoma State University. And residents are growing frustrated with stop-and-go traffic and detours.

But they also recognize the long-term benefits, even if those benefits are a long time away.

The city is in the beginning of a historic construction period — both for buildings and roads.

Construction should continue for the next five years or more, officials say.

John Fowler, president of the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce, said not since the end of World War II has Stillwater seen such a construction boom. The city is expected to spend about $50 million on roads alone during the next decade.

The busiest construction is on Main Street, near the OSU campus, on Perkins Road and on State Highway 51, Fowler said. The boom is driven by strong housing sales, an increase in city population and major improvements at OSU.

Fowler said Stillwater's population was 39,000 in 2000, estimated at 46,000 in 2006 and could hit 50,000 by 2010, he said. That growth, Fowler said, is second only to Broken Arrow.

"It's a great time to be in Stillwater,” he said. "The city has been able to maintain its college town environment, but the growth has created more of everything.”

That includes traffic jams and last-second merging on SH 51, the road that brings motorists from Interstate 35.

Fowler hopes residents understand congestion is a necessary problem for progress.

Motorists will get relief by Sept. 8 — the Cowboys' first home football game — when city officials hope to open two lanes in each direction on SH 51. Now, most of the road from I-35 is one lane.

Stillwater does not have a close-by, major city to drive its economy, but has OSU to help produce steam, and Fowler said the two are closely linked.

He said through the next five years, hotel capacity near OSU should double to about 750 rooms.

OSU Provost and Interim President Marlene Strathe said she hopes faculty members and students have patience with local traffic and building construction on campus. When it's all said and done, the university will have some of the most state-of-the-art facilities in the region, she said.

"It's a tremendous period of growth for all of us and a tribute to the future,” she said.

Gary Shutt, OSU spokesman, said the university has $826 million planned on academic and athletic projects through the next five years. The university's 23,000 students were greeted with a different sea of orange — traffic cones, construction signs and machinery — when they returned to campus Monday.

OSU's biggest road construction project, Hall of Fame Avenue, should be finished next summer. The avenue, a major east-west artery, has been closed since February 2005.

That is being done with the football stadium's west end zone project. That project should be completed by summer 2009, Shutt said.

And of course, OSU made national headlines with plans for a $316 million athletic village on an 80-acre site north of Boone Pickens Stadium.

"It will really help change the face of our university,” Shutt said of the construction. "You have some growing pains, but it's going to be an even better community when all of this is done, and OSU will be an ever better university.”

While officials view the city and OSU expansion as a sign of a strong local economy, some residents view it as poor planning.

The Rev. Carol Fincher, a Unitarian minister and Stillwater resident since 1988, said road projects should have been staggered.

"It's annoying,” she said. "Hall of Fame has been closed for 100 years, at least. I'm really upset about that.”

She calls the I-35/SH 51 interchange a "hideous mess,” but understands projects were delayed by weather and construction was needed.

The completion of projects will be a blessing, Fincher said.

Matt Johnston, owner of Aspen Coffee Co., said business decreases when roads are closed. He's for building construction, though, because he says that adds to his customer base.

"We do realize road construction is necessary,” Johnston said. "It's the way they do it. They close it all off forever.”

City officials recognize residents' frustration and have tried to ease traffic congestion, said Shannon Cox, management analyst for the public works department. The city was able to use funds from a sales tax passed six years ago at the same time the state Transportation Department had money for local projects.

Projects also had to be done around the OSU football schedule, Cox said. The city is spending $13.5 million on projects and the state is using $24 million.

Building construction also is skyrocketing. The latest numbers show there are 121 commercial building permits in Stillwater, Cox said. That's an increase from 95 in 2003, 110 in 2004 and 88 in 2005.

For Daffern and her two small dogs, 2012 can't come quick enough.

"There's nothing we can do about it,” she said. "It's OK. It's just how it has to be. It's the bane of living in Stillwater now.”

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