KGWN –Cheyenne, WY– Scottsbluff, NE News,Weather, SportsWyoming Roads Lack Funding

Wyoming Roads Lack Funding

A new report from the national transportation research group, TRIP, says Wyoming is in need of significant funding to make needed improvements to it's roads and bridges.

In order to make needed improvements to Wyoming's roads and bridges, the state would need to overcome a funding shortfall of $332 million per year and $3.3 billion over the next decade.

Right now Wyoming isn't thinking about improvements, it's struggling just to keep up with maintaining what it has.

"Not really in a position to make the types of improvements that are necessary to support growing energy sectors and other critical parts of the states economy including tourism, agricultural and manufacturing," said Frank Moretti, Director of Policy and Research for TRIP.

Trip found that 20% of Wyoming's roads have pavement in poor condition. Based on current funding and an increase in traffic over the next decade that number is expect to increase to 37%.

"The secondary level roads, which are also very important, are slipping fairly dramatically over the next decade," Moretti said.

The study found that Wyoming has hundreds of bridges that are structurally deficient.

"You're looking at a 55% increase in the number of structurally deficient bridges in the state from nearly 400 to just over 600 over the next decade," Moretti said.

Wyoming's fatality rate is among the highest in the nation, improved roads in some cases could help lower that number.

"The fatality rate per vehicle of travel in Wyoming is 47% higher than the national average and I think for any state that's your benchmark," Moretti said.

Cheyenne Chamber CEO Dale Steenbergen says roads are key when attracting new businesses.

"Site selectors around the country, when interviewed, transportation is always at the top of their list and it's specifically surface transportation and roads," Steenberger said.

He believes transportation needs to be a top priority and more funding options need to start being explored.

"We have to put all options on the table. We have to look at all the options, go through them, analyze them to see what kind of an impact they will have. You don't want to increase taxes and reduce economic development," Steenbergen said.

Governor Mead's budget plan over the next two years calls for about $100 million to be invested in Wyoming's roads and bridges, but even that would leave the state about $60 million short per year just to keep them maintained.

Road conditions aren't just bad across the state, according to WYDOT we seeing a lot of the same needs right here in Cheyenne.

Interstate 80 continues to be a major concern going forward because of increased truck traffic.

WYDOT says bridges near Cheyenne their most worried about are bridge decks along I-80 between Laramie.

The I-80 and I-25 intersection is a big safety concern. WYDOT says the current design has a higher crash rate than a more modern design, but they cannot afford to fund a project like that at this time.

"A lot of these improvements that are centered around Cheyenne and Laramie will not be able to be completed with the funding stream we have right now," said Martin Kidner, State Planning Engineer for WYDOT.