DRIGGS, Idaho — No surprise, but the Wyoming Department of Transportation is telling everyone to stay away from the torn-up road where Wyoming Highway 22 collapsed Saturday over Teton Pass.
Photos and drone footage distributed by WYDOT is all anyone gets to see of the break in the main arterial link between the wealthy enclave of Jackson, Wyoming, and thousands of the area’s workers who live in Idaho’s Teton Valley, because it’s too dangerous to get up close.
Except for a moose.
On Thursday, a floppy-eared moose was seen wandering back and forth on the border between Idaho and Wyoming at about 4:45 a.m., stepping first along Idaho State Route 33, then tapping one or two of its legs on Wyoming’s side on Highway 22.
It then darted off into the dark hillside of the Targhee National Forest.
It wasn’t hard for the moose to sneak pass WYDOT’s closure gates. One was raised open. Cones were set up directing traffic to come on through.
No guards were anywhere to be seen, and also no vehicles. No one. Just the moose.
For people who need to get to work in Jackson from the tiny communities that dot SR 33 along Teton Valley’s main drag, they’ve also found an alternative to the mountain pass now apparently closed off to traffic because of what WYDOT has called a “catastrophic” failure.
It’s not as fast as a speedy moose’s sidestepping dance along the border, but these people have found a cushy ride for a commute that’s now many times longer than before. It’s a coach bus offered up by the city of Jackson’s Southern Teton Area Rapid Transit, or START. For $16, they get a roundtrip ride, and no eye-twitching from nerves rubbed raw by the bumper-to-bumper clogged highways.
Sleepy-Eyes
Sho Saenz, who lives 12 minutes away to the north of the Driggs Transportation Center in rustic Tetonia, Idaho, slept an extra 30 minutes or so rather than rush to catch the START bus that departs at 5:10 a.m. She kissed her partner goodbye, who rushed to the earlier bus ride.
“I couldn’t do it. It was too early,” she said, adding that the 5:55 a.m. bus was tough enough to make.
“This is my first time taking the bus,” Saenz said. “I was commuting from Tetonia, and now the drive is two hours.”
Going back and forth to Jackson takes a half-tank of gas for a two-hour drive to her banking job at a Wells Fargo branch in Jackson’s Town Square.
“It’s cheaper to just ride on the bus,” she said.
In the early dawn in Driggs before the bus arrives, the streets are barren. There’s no traffic at this time of day, which is unusual, say people who live in the area and are accustomed to seeing workers in Idaho dart through town to the Teton Pass.
There’s not even a place to buy a cup of coffee before 7:30 a.m.
The streets are empty because everyone is headed a different way.
They’re now rushing to drive more than 100 miles along five highways from Victor, Idaho, at the border with Wyoming to Jackson, and past the lush green pastures of Swan Valley, past the Palisades Reservoir and the crashing water from its hydroelectric dam, and past the cascading rapids of the Snake River.
This alternative route was developed after the 30-minute drive to Jackson was taken away from Idahoans by the landslide. Some might argue this is a better deal.
The handful of passengers on the Start bus that traveled nearly 100-miles from Driggs, Idaho, to their jobs in Jackson, Wyoming, napped on Thursday after rushing to make the 5:50 a.m. departure. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Start bus driver Derek Dean is ready to begin his two-and-a-half-hour drive from Diggs, Idaho, to Jackson, Wyoming. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
At 5 a..m. on Thursday, one of the snow closure gates at the Idaho and Wyoming border was raised so that traffic could enter the closed road that had partially collapsed in a landslide last weekend. The Teton Pass arterial road connects Idaho’s Teton Valley and Jackson, Wyoming. No one from the Wyoming Department of Transportation was guarding the entrance to keep lookie-loos out while the road is repaired. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Just after 5 a.m. on Thursday, the town of Driggs, Idaho, was nearly a ghost town. It is normally packed with rush-hour traffic from Idaho’s Teton Valley headed over the Teton Pass to Jackson. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Sho Saenz of Tetonia arrived at the Diggs, Idaho, transportation center at 4:50 a.m. to catch a bus over to Jackson, Wyoming. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Kevin Dunnigan is an early riser. He made a breakfast, walked his dog and brewed a cup of coffee before heading out to the Driggs, Idaho, transportation center to make a nearly 100-mile trip to his job at the Jackson Hole Airport. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Once the bus arrives in Jackson, Wyoming, after two hours and 45 minutes of traveling from Driggs, Idaho, passengers begin to depart at one of four bus stops in Jackson’s affluent downtown shopping district. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Once the bus arrives in Jackson, Wyoming, after two hours and 45 minutes of traveling from Driggs, Idaho, passengers begin to depart at one of four bus stops in Jackson’s affluent downtown shopping district. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
There are breathtaking views of the landscape to see along the drive from Driggs, Idaho, to Jackson, Wyoming. Above, the Snake River weaves its way alongside Wyoming State Route 89 just east of Alpine, Wyoming. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily)
It’s Complicated
Nonetheless, Idahoans are frustrated because their commute has become complicated.
More driving time, more hard-earned money spent on gas and more exhaustion from a long commute that has tripled or quadrupled in time depending on rush hour versus non-rush hour times.
Olivia Wilson may take the prize for one of the most difficult commutes.
She lives in Alta, Wyoming, with a population of 429. The town is located between Driggs and the Grand Targhee Resort and is about 5 miles east of the Idaho state line.
But she drives to Driggs to get to her Jackson job.
On Thursday, Wilson hopped on the START bus for a nearly 3-hour commute.
“I’m supposed to be at work at 8, but I’m getting wo work at about 9,” said Wilson, who rolled out of bed at 4:45 a.m. to catch the bus. “My boss is very understanding. I’m not taking a lunch break, and that has worked out OK.”
Wilson works for the Teton County Fairgrounds office in Jackson, which runs the annual county fair.
“This road has always been bad. It’s a crazy week for everyone,” said Wilson, who has friends who live nearby making a commute to St. John’s Health in Jackson that is equally as difficult as hers’.
Reading A Book
“They’re paying more for gas,” said Wilson, who is a veteran bus rider.
She doesn’t mind the bus ride, and spent part of her morning commute James Herriot’s “The Lord God Made Them All,” a sequel of the popular “All Creatures Great and Small.”
“It’s a beautiful drive,” said Wilson who looked up from her book briefly, then settled back into the novel.
The first signs of congestion emerged a few miles north of Alpine, where traffic came to a standstill. A man jogging on the side of Idaho State Route 26 — one of the five interconnected highways that people are taking to Jackson from Teton Valley — was at one point moving faster than the cars jammed up north of Alpine.
In Alpine, START bus driver Derek Dean pulled over at the KJ’s Super Store to let passengers stretch their legs, use the restroom or pick up a snack or cup of coffee.
“It’s just 5 or 10 minutes,” he admonished everyone.
Jenni Robles, who lives with her husband in Driggs, landed on the bus for the first time after thinking she weaned herself off over a year ago.
But her Hyundai broke down in Wilson on Wednesday, which is about as far away as you can have a mechanical fail on the new commute.
Wilson is located just east of the landslide area on Highway 22 on Teton Pass.
“I suppose it didn’t like the long way around,” she quipped.
The couple, who normally carpool together, left the car in Wilson and will deal with how to get it repaired later.
Robles works as a day care teacher for the Teton County School District.
Making Sense
Kevin Dunnigan, who works for the Jackson Hole Airport as a communications specialist, rose from bed at 4 a.m. Thursday, made a breakfast consisting of a fruit smoothie, toast with a thick spread of peanut butter and a cup of coffee.
He then walked the dog for 15 minutes, after which he packed up his laptop bag and drove over to the Driggs transportation center from Victor in about 5 minutes.
He’s taken the bus to work before, but Thursday was the first time since the main road between the Idaho and Wyoming communities was closed.
“I feel more productive on the bus than driving to work for over two hours,” said Dunnigan, who checked emails and other work assignments from his Wi-Fi-connected laptop on the bus. “To me, this makes sense.”
START Director Bruce Abel told Cowboy State Daily that his agency is meeting with officials with the Teton County Travel and Tourism Board on Thursday afternoon to discuss a recommendation to pick up the tab on all travel costs for people in Idaho who ride START buses to and from their jobs in Wyoming.
“We are attempting to lessen the impact that workers are feeling from the SR 22 closure,” he said.
START and the county board are looking at setting aside $60,000 for the bus travel services for commuters in Teton Valley and Star Valley areas in Idaho.
“This will be implemented today,” Abel said.
Contact Pat Maio at pat@cowboystatedaily.com
Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
