GREEN RIVER — Running the length of the city of Green River, population 11,496, is Flaming Gorge Way, a historic roadway through a downtown district lined with residential homes, early 20th century brick buildings and a number ofmom-and-pop shops that give this historic southwest Wyoming railroad community its distinctive hometown charm.
On a typical day, central downtown traffic amounts to around 1,500 vehicle trips, city Public Works Director, Mark Westenskow told Cowboy State Daily. But beginning Friday, the traffic on Flaming Gorge Way has increased more than tenfold — and it won't be back to normal for awhile.
In response to the spectacular and tragic crash in the Green River Tunnel Friday, which took three lives and could yet claim more, traffic on Interstate 80 has been rerouted down Flaming Gorge Way, turning central Green River into an all-day parade of 18-wheelers.
The tunnel is part of a vital commercial artery of Interstate 80, connecting key markets around the region. The tunnelaverages between 8,000 and 9,000 commercial truck trips per day, said Westenskow.
Now, those trucks are barrelling through the heart of this small city, and it’s starting to jar locals.
“It’s pretty quiet through town normally. With all the freeway traffic coming through it's a different dynamic,” Westenskowsaid. “It ends up being very impactful to our downtown community, very impactful to traffic circulation and people trying to maneuver around town.”
Local Business And Alternate Routes
One business with a front-row seat to the parade is Mi Casita, a family owned Mexican restaurant known for its potent green chili and flan-layered tres leches dessert.
On Saturday night a day after the fatal crash that involved 26 vehicles and killed at least three people, the dinner rush was subdued: One family at the corner table, a pair of two-tops and a trickle of orders to go.
“It is usually busier than this,” said co-owner Angeles Avila, as the storefront windows vibrated from the force of a passing semi behind her. She’s concerned the truck traffic is keeping people from the area and the restaurant.
“Yesterday there were people across the street and struggling to get over here because of the traffic,” she said. “I saw a guy waiting for 10 minutes just to get across.”
Tunnel crashes and winter weather closures have led to increased traffic past her store before, but this time it’s different.
“I’ve never seen it like this,” Avila said. “I’ve never seen this many semis coming this far into town before. My customers are taking the backway to get here,” explaining that locals have begun devising alternative routes to get around town.
Feel The Vibrations
In addition to local businesses, also on Flaming Gorge Way are many residential homes and families, for whom the rumble of semis has become the wallpaper of daily life.
Eric Tanner, an instrument operator with Tata Chemicals, has lived in a single-family home on Flaming Gorge Way for 20 years. He said the trailer traffic makes for a visceral experience.
“It rattles my whole house. I can feel the vibrations even in my recliner,” he said. “And when the oversize loads come through you really feel it.”
Tanner was standing on his front walkway Saturday, watching a column of long-haul trucks stream by.
“Couple of times I’ve seen it like a parking lot. I’m worried how people are going to get to work and school,” he said.
Residents as far as a block off from Flaming Gorge Way also report feeling the vibrations inside their homes, said city spokesman Steve Core.
Old Pipes Under Pressure
Beyond business impacts and residential rattling, the traffic is raising worries about infrastructure. Underneath Flaming Gorge Way are some of the city’s primary water lines, and they’re old.
“We have a series of cast iron lines that were installed many years ago. Some are 80 to 100 years old,” said Westenskow, adding that cast iron material was phased out of main line infrastructure decades ago.
The pipes are showing their age.
“There's probably a six- or eight-block span where we've had a break on every block, about one a year on average,” he said. “It's always a concern whenever we have a break because that impacts traffic in the city as well.
“So it's a double concern right now,” he added, meaning that the community could be in really bad shape if a main were to break while the Interstate traffic was still running through town.
Mi Casita restaurant in Green River was open for business Saturday, but had no customers with a constrant flow of semitruck traffic running in front of the businees because of the Green River Tunnel crash. (Zak Sonntag, Cowboy State Daily) 
With the westbound lane of Interstate 80 through the Green River Tunnel closed, a lot of commercial truck traffic is moving through the small southwest Wyoming city. (Clair McFarland, Cowboy State Daily)
Double Tunnel Closure
The Green River Tunnel is actually two tunnels, one eastbound and one westbound. With the westbound tunnel out of commission for an indefinite amount of time, crews are working to turn the eastbound tunnel into a two-way alternative.
Concrete barriers have been installed to separate the lanes into one way each direction, and the speed limit has been reduced.
John Eddins, engineer for WYDOT’s District 3, told Cowboy State Daily over the weekend that the agency is moving with urgency to get traffic back on Interstate 80.
WYDOT has begun an emergency contracting process with the firm DeBernardi Construction to begin moving concrete barriers to the crossover lanes in preparation to guide traffic head-to-head in the eastbound tunnel. WYDOT hopes that the situation will be in place by Wednesday.
Yet even with the head-to-head solution, the city will still experience higher levels of traffic, officials say. And it could be a long time before the westbound tunnel is repaired.
In the meantime, residents are girding themselves as being in the middle of the I-80 commercial network.
“I’ll be trying to make my left hand turn right there to get to work at the mines, and fighting this traffic is going to be something,” said mine worker Eric Tanner.
