Wendy Corr:
Hey there folks, welcome to The Roundup! We are a Cowboy State Daily podcast, and we focus on interesting people in the Cowboy State. And this, this guest that we're going to be talking to today, his job, his work, the people he oversees, they are relevant to all of us, to everyone's everyday life.
If you use the roads, if you fly in an airplane out of the state of Wyoming, if you are concerned about anything regarding transportation, public safety, this is the guy that we need to talk to, and that we need to get to know.
This is Darin Westby. Darin is the head of WYDOT, THE Wyoming Department of Transportation. He is the director of that agency. He has a broad, broad purview, but he has years of experience of being the director of a very broad agency, and he's got years of experience in being the director of a very small agency, and we're going to talk about that here in just a little bit.
But I'm going to say Hello, Darin Westby, we're so glad to have you on the Roundup today. How are you today?
Darin Westby:
I'm doing well, it's legislature, so it's fast and furious, but thank you, Wendy for having me on and thanks for listeners.
Wendy Corr:
We are so glad that you are able to take time away from all of those duties and just take a little bit of time to talk to us about the Wyoming Department of Transportation. But of course, The Roundup is about personalities, and so we want to know about you. Who is it that's directing the Wyoming Department of Transportation?
And Darin, you've got a great story. You are a Wyoming native. You're a Casper native. Tell us about growing up in Casper Wyoming.
Darin Westby:
Well, thanks, Wendy. You know, growing up in Casper, raised by a single mother, Casper is the epitome of the best place to grow up as a kid. You had outdoor recreation at your fingertips. You can get on your bike and ride to the river. You can get on your bike and ride to the mountain and hike and fish and ride your, you know, motorcycle. It was just a great place to grow up and have the ability to just learn life lessons as you need.
Wendy Corr:
The hard way sometimes, I'm sure.
Darin Westby:
Well, mostly, yeah, mostly the hard ways, yeah, but yeah. Had a great, great schooling, public school. I am the product of public school, so I appreciate everything that everybody did. I have some great mentors, you know, teaching mentors that I still stay in contact with up there.
Darin Westby:
We all got jobs out in Detroit and the Michigan area and and so at the time, my wife was graduating law school, at the same time I was graduating mechanical engineering. And so we had a bet as to whoever got the first job offer - accepted is the keyword - accepted job offer, the other would follow and raise our kid.
I should back up. We had a going to be six year old and a gonna be a new born in July of that graduating year. And so we said Whoever didn't get the first job offer would go back and raise the kids as long as we could financially and mentally. And so I got the first job offer, but we did not accept that, because we didn't want to raise our kids out in the Midwest.
And so she got a job offer here in Cheyenne with the federal magistrate, Beaman. And so we took the job here in Cheyenne, and I was good on our bet. I raised the kids for, I don't want to say, six or eight months, until my son, he became about six or eight months and started becoming mobile. And then it became work.
Up until then, it was just kind of fun to just watch him grow. But once he became mobile, it became work. And I figured it was, I would rather pay somebody to help deal with the work. And so I went and found a job.
Wendy Corr:
Oh my gosh. So you were, you were a stay at home dad. And I just think that that's fantastic, because I don't talk to very many people who have been stay at home dads, so folks, when I said he knows how to manage small agencies - that's managing a small agency. Yeah, that you, I bet you just had such a whole different perspective than most people your age, especially most dads.
Darin Westby:
Yeah, well, you know, having a six year old, I've been through that process a little bit, and so the next one was just as much work, but it was fun, something I would never give back. It was a great opportunity to spend the time that was necessary to help put him on the right path and make sure of that.
My older daughter was doing as well as she could in kindergarten and going into first grade. So it was fun. Wouldn't, wouldn't get traded for the world. But like I said, once it became work, it was time for me to move on. And but it was fun.
Wendy Corr:
And so you traded in, then, being a stay at home dad and managing that part of your life and the family. What did you decide? Which direction did you go? Then you've got a mechanical engineering degree, and what did you want to do with that?
Darin Westby:
Well, like I said, I always wanted to design and build cars. Well, quickly realized in Wyoming, we don't design or build cars here, and so one thing with engineering degree, one thing that we are plentiful in Wyoming, is civil engineering. So I found a job with a private architectural and engineering firm, and the individual that I worked for had licenses across the entire country.
And so we would design and build hotels or bedroom expressions, the whole furniture row thing. And so, Kampgrounds of America. So we designed these things across the entire country, which gave me a great opportunity to learn the civil side and the architectural side and the structural side and the electrical side and the mechanical side.
Just really broad experiential learning opportunity, which was great, but then I became a partner in that firm, which was fun, but it was a lot of work, a lot of hours.
Wendy Corr:
Education, really, continuing education.
Darin Westby:
Yeah, it was great. And at the time, was able to - back in the day, you had to have four years of experiential learning to take the test to become a professional engineer. And so I took the test and became a professional civil engineer. So I'm mechanical by degree, but civil by licensed, and probably practiced mostly architectural.
So I found, I think my passion is probably architecture, but not an architect. So I practiced mostly in the civil world, had a great opportunity too - he was going to move his office to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and so I said, I don't want to keep working 120 hour weeks. And so I sold my portion of the practice and he moved.
And luckily, at the same time, there was a job opening at State Parks as a project engineer. And so I looked at that job as, I can still design campgrounds, I can still design buildings, I can still design roads and bridges, and just on a state level. And so everything happens for a reason.
So I got that job, luckily, and then worked my way up through that agency. I spent 20 years there, and the last seven years I was the director of that agency. So Governor Mead gave me that appointment seven years before I came over here.
Wendy Corr:
At what point did you say, you know what? I think that I'd like to go to the administrative side, rather than be on the ground floor, you know, doing the actual designing and building and things like that. Because that is, i it's a whole different mindset. Because now, instead of just project oriented, you're people oriented, right?
Darin Westby:
You know, I don't know if there was ever really a shift. I think it's pretty much every engineer's trajectory. If you have any managerial abilities, they push you out of engineering and into management. And so that's kind of what happened.
At the same time, I'm also a volunteer out at Cheyenne Frontier Days, and have been for 30 years and and was at the time, working my way up through the ranks of Frontier Days, and I was a chairman of the concessions committee.
And so I again, keep utilizing my experiences to hone my leadership and managerial and supervisory skills, and then I got on the board of directors after that. And then I became the general chairman of Frontier Days, which is basically the Chief Operating Officer.
And we had 3000 volunteers. And so that was my job, was to organize and kind of keep all the 10 committees working in the same direction, so continue to again, hone that leadership and the skills necessary to manage and lead, you know, a large group.
And so it helped, definitely at State Parks and the ability to lead that organization, but it was much smaller. I joke around quite a bit. I call it the rainbows and unicorns agency, because they have a great product that every day they get to sell, the best product within the state. They are the tourism product.
And so that was my job every day, to get up and sell the best product for the state. And it was fun, it's easy, it was interesting, and I had great people. It just attracted passion. Those industry type programs just attract the best of the best, and they're there for a good reason.
Wendy Corr:
Now, you did that while you were working at State Parks, though.
Darin Westby:
Yeah, no, it's definitely a volunteer position.
Wendy Corr:
Wow. I mean, that's a lot of hours, and that really splits your time, splits your attention.
Darin Westby:
Yeah, definitely it was a second full time job, but it's evenings and weekends and it just is, you learn how to manage your time when you take on a second thing.
Wendy Corr:
So your kids grow up at Frontier Park.
Darin Westby:
Oh yeah. No, they got really - there's a great story of - so, concessions committee. They oversaw the carnival, the food, the beverage, the exhibits, all the free entertainment. And so my kids grew up during the show, and they obviously got to know everybody, all the contractors at the carnival and the food and all the people in the exhibits, and got to meet all the free entertainment people. So that was fun.
But one time I was walking through the Midway, I look over and my son was back behind the booth sweeping up balloons, you know, the balloon popping game. I thought, hey, that kid looks familiar.
So they obviously immersed themselves in it as well, and very grateful for that, because it took away time from them as well. And so t I tried to find ways to keep them engaged.
And obviously, when you're the general chairman, you have the ability to meet a whole bunch of people, and it puts you in a good position to introduce them to your family. And so it was definitely an opportunity for us to really, I don't know. I say I use everything to whatever I can benefit, whether it's personally or professionally, and the opportunity at Frontier Days was to meet as many people as I could. That positions me and my family better and my agency or whatever, better.
Wendy Corr:
But it's networking. It's the ultimate in networking.
Darin Westby:
Absolutely networking, but I'm also an engineer. I'd rather talk to my feet than get in front of large groups of people.
Wendy Corr:
Wait a minute, you're an introvert, and yet you're leading these major agencies?
Darin Westby:
Definitely an introvert. Yeah, no, it's, it takes everything I can to pull myself out of my normal state to do things like this or in front of a large group. But I utilized Frontier Days too. I was the yes guy.
So the front office, if they ever got a call and say, Hey, Rotary this, or, you know, chamber this, or school this, wants to have a presentation on Frontier Days, I was your guy. Just, the answer is yes. Just put it on my calendar and I'd go do it. Just to continue to try to get the fear of public speaking out of me.
And I'm still, still crafting that skill, honing it for sure, but it's, I definitely used Frontier Days as much as they've utilized my skills as well.
But it was fun, it's still fun. 30 years, I'm still a volunteer. A couple years ago, they voted me on, I'm on the Hall of Fame there at Cheyenne Frontier Days, which is a nice honor. Now I just say I have a cool badge with no responsibility, but that's not really the case either, because I'm still on two committees and three boards out there. But it's, once they get their folks into ya, they never let you go, but it's a fun opportunity.
Wendy Corr:
But you don't let them go either. And I think that that says something about your love for Frontier Days, your love for your community, obviously, your willingness to give to the community.
When you were - let's just kind of focus for a moment on your years at the State Parks, because that's a huge responsibility to be able to be the overseer of all of those beautiful spaces, those beautiful spaces that are dedicated for the use of all of us.
You had to have loved that job and be very invested in it, and yet you were willing to give that up last year to say, You know what, I think it's time for something different. What changed your focus away from Parks and on to okay, WYDOT needs a new director?
Darin Westby:
Good question - the governor called.
Wendy Corr:
Well, that's a good reason, right there.
Darin Westby:
It's, you know, that's kind of the joking answer. You know, you never tell the governor ‘no’ more than once and so… but realistically, I have a PE, a professional engineering stamp, and so I think the governor was looking for somebody that had the ability to come over into WYDOT, into a very engineering oriented agency and see what I could do.
And so there was very little marching orders, other than try to improve the morale, and try to change some things that needed to be changed for the future of WYDOT and the future of the state transportation system.
And so I said I would. When the governor called, I said, Please, whatever you do, can we make it interim as long as we can? Because if I don't fit in their culture and they don't fit in my world, it's not going to work. And so I don't want to lose my rainbows and unicorns job over here, and so don't backfill my position until, you know, we both come to the agreement that it was the right move.
And so five and a half months later, we made it official. But you know, the one thing when the governor called and asked if I would look at it, you know, quickly went into, is this going to work? Is it going to work for me, personally, professionally, but then, how do I fit into their group?
So I went and did some research. And there was a whole bunch of surveys out there that I could read. And, you know, I could look at, you know, the size of the agency, and I can look at all the agency programs, but I quickly found that WYDOT and parks and cultural resources are very similar.
I had at parks and cultural I had engineers, I had construction, I had HR, I had legal, you know, I had, you know, people out in the field. I had construction workers, I had mechanics, I had all the things that I have over here at WYDOT, just in a much, much bigger scale.
And so one of the surveys I looked at was, there was a question on the employee satisfaction survey. It said, Would you recommend WYDOT as a good place to work? And at the time, this was two and a half years ago, whenever, the two times before it, it was 44% said that they would recommend WYDOT as a good place to work.
Well, that scares somebody that's coming into it. What am I stepping into, am I going to have the pride and the passion that I have at my current agency, versus going over into some place where less than 50% of the people enjoy the agency enough to tell somebody to come work for us?
Yeah, and so that was a big sticking point. I almost didn't take the job because of that one. And so I vowed, with all of the crew, when I stepped in as interim, just said, Hey, you know, what can we do to improve this?
And so we worked on, we're still continuing to work on, you know, what needs to be changed to improve the morale, the brand management of the agency, that people would feel compelled to say, Yes, we love working here, and go out and find other people that your friends or your family to come work for us.
Because at the end of the day, we have the best recruiting tools that are working for us. And if those people aren't doing the job of recruiting, I can spend millions of dollars recruiting to try to fill those positions, but we're not going to be successful, so you won't try to change that culture.
Wendy Corr:
What are some of the things? What are some of the things that you've done and that you've changed since coming in in order to make it a more desirable place to work?
Darin Westby:
Yeah, I think - good question, and we're still working on it, but I think trying to just improve the brand management of the agency, internally and externally. We've got a big deficit of funding that we have coming into our agency to perform the mission.
But the same token inside is, if we can't change how people feel about the impact of what they do on a day to day basis, you kind of led off with that at the beginning. It touches everybody's lives, and if we can't make sure that everybody that works for us, whether they're in accounting or if they're out engineering a road and everything in between, if we can't try to fit them into exactly why they do what they do and why it matters to everything within the state, how can we change, you know, people's thoughts internally and externally, on why WYDOT is important.
And that parlays into hopefully better morale, understanding the why behind getting up in the morning. You know, I always say I don't want you doing cartwheels on Monday at eight o'clock coming into work, but I definitely don't want you doing cartwheels at 4:59 when you're leaving. It's the time between those cartwheels that are so important and so impactful to everybody's day to day lives.
It's just horribly important for everybody to understand that every piece is integral to the success of - and I'd love to say just this agency - but if we fail as a mission, as an agency, mission, all of our major revenue streams, you know, the energy industry. Right?
The tourism industry, the ag industry, none of these industries are going to be successful. And so trying to just build that brand of impact and build that brand of importance, just if nothing else, that we can start beating our own chest, that this is why we do what we do, why it's so important.
And hopefully at some point, and I think we're getting there, other people will come to our aid and say, This is why they're so important. This is why it's so impactful to ensure that we get funding, make sure that we get the right people, make sure that we have everything in place to be successful.
Wendy Corr:
So we kind of alluded to it at the beginning, but WYDOT is more than just snow plows, and it's more than just road repairs. WYDOT is the Highway Patrol as well, and like you say, it's communication, it's aviation. You've got a huge umbrella over all of these things that, again, affect all of us that move around the state.
Tell us where you've been successful in knocking down the deficit in people. Because I know for years, it's always been, you know, we are so short people here, from snowplow drivers to Highway Patrol troopers. Where have you seen the best change in the best, improvement in staffing?
Darin Westby:
Sure, yeah, no, thank you for that lead in. So we have, when I came over in March of ‘23 we had 345 vacancies within the agency, a large portion, I think there, were close to 65, almost 70, highway patrolmen that we were short, probably the same amount in road maintainers or snow plows in the winter, they plow snow in the summer, they maintain the roads. And then we have mechanics that were short and so in engineering.
So those are the four that we really focus on, trying to ensure that we can get those people hired and not just filling a spot. That's the other thing. I don't want to just fill a vacancy. I want to fill it with the right people.
And that goes back to the brand management. Why do you want to work for us? You know? Well, let me tell you why you should work for us and be proud of it, and have our people be proud of who they work for and what they do, and so that's the big part.
So highway patrol, flash forward now, I think we're down to 20 vacancies, and hopefully with this last recruitment effort, we'll be down to almost full which is, yeah.
Wendy Corr:
That's huge. I mean, just pause for a moment. That's huge, because for years there's been a shortage of highway patrol troopers, and it's been a serious shortage.
Darin Westby:
Yeah, no, it has, and the colonel and his team have done a tremendous job of trying to really recruit. I gave him a challenge when I came on almost the first day. They came to me and they said, We need more FTEs, we need more troopers.
And I said, you have 70 vacancies. I'm not going to go to the legislature and the governor and ask for more, you know, sworn officers when you can't fill what you have. Fill what you have, and then I will go ask for more if you need it.
And so they took that challenge seriously. They've knocked it down within a little over a year, year and a half now, they're down to 20. And so hopefully, like I said, this next go around, they might be getting close. So this next session, I might have to put my money where my mouth was.
And thank you for backing me up a little bit and celebrating that success. That's the one thing that I think everybody's not good at, is celebrating success, and really, you know, trying to spear, you know, what we just did was tremendous, and we need to make sure that we slow down a little bit, celebrate that success, and hopefully that'll continue to build where we want to go.
Wendy Corr:
Fantastic. What about snow plow drivers? Because I know that was another real issue for a lot of people, because if we don't get those roads plowed, we don't go anywhere, especially along I-80. Especially in, you know, my part, up in the northwest, in the northeast part, those are really heavily hit in the wintertime, and if we don't have snowplow drivers, we're stuck. Literally.
Darin Westby:
Literally, yeah, no, we've done a great job of getting those positions filled too. We're not nearly as, probably as full as we are on the highway patrol. We still have probably 35 vacancies, so we've cut it almost in half, but still, it's an interesting job.
And so, you know, it's not for everybody. It takes a special individual to do what they do. I truly, I think over the next year, we're going to start figuring out how we can put head cams on our snow plow drivers, just so they can, you can see, it's like running a spaceship in there, when they're running double plows. And it's amazing what they do on a day to day basis out there.
And if I can get that pulled together, we'll get the fear of missing out of those thrill seekers that have some interest in, you know, really trying to be - like I said, I don't want to just fill positions. I want to fill it with people that can do the job and have the will to do the job.
Because when you're out in the middle of nowhere, plowing snow in a blizzard, so other people can go on their day, it takes a special person to do that, so we're really trying to push the recruitment towards - it's not for everybody, but for the right person, it could be a great career for sure.
And so we continue to push that as much as possible. We're going to work with some other people to try to get that message out here in the next year, and hopefully we can fill those within this next year as well.
Wendy Corr:
I think that's fantastic. Now you have had two really high profile incidents, tragedies, or, you know, just really disastrous situations since you have taken over, which, of course, is no fault of anybody on WYDOT, they have just happened.
But Teton pass falling off the mountain, side of the mountain last year, and then, of course, the most recent tragedy at the Green River tunnel on I 80. How have those disasters, how have they impacted morale? And how proud of you are you of your people for as fast as they've worked to get those roads open again?
Darin Westby:
Yeah, no, thank you. We'll start with Teton pass. That was obviously, it went viral, the first video, or first footage we had, the slough or the slide was kind of at a decent angle, and we all kind of looked at it and said, yeah, we can, we can fix that. No problem.
And then the one that went viral is the one where it just shaved straight down, and it was like, Oh no, that's going to be, that's going to be horrible. And so quickly, we gathered the team. And that same time, obviously the local leaders were, you know, what's going to happen? You know, should we start getting FEMA involved and try to get some housing in?
And I said, just give me 24 hours to work with the team. Let me find out if, if we're weeks or months or years out on this thing, you know, I truly want to not knee jerk react to this.
And so the crew, the local crew, Bob Hammond, is the resident engineer up there, worked with the Forest Service and worked with his crews and and a lot of people down here in Cheyenne were supporting him with geologists and everything. We flew our geologists and some of our engineers up there really quick to help Bob, you know, kind of come up with a solution.
But the detour, quickly, he just said, Darin, this is, we can have this done in two weeks. We can get the detour done in two weeks. And I'm like, let's not say two weeks, Bob, let's just say weeks. I don't, I don't want to shoehorn us into two weeks, you know. I just want to know, is it weeks or months, you know? And I can go back to the local community and say, just bear with us for a couple weeks, and we will, we'll get the detour open, then we'll fix the rest of it down the road.
And so that kind of backed them off a little bit from, you know, spending millions of dollars on temporary housing or anything like that. And everybody was phenomenal to work with. I had the local leaders up there, all the local communities. They all put up RVs for their people and, you know, parking lots and extra rooms, and they did everything that they could.
And so the crews worked, you know, around the clock, obviously, for 20 days. We got it open in 20 days, which was miraculous. But everybody, I think, that worked on it, knew who they were working for. They were working hard for the single mother that, you know, was losing three hours out of their day, the extra gas money that they couldn't afford to go an extra, you know, three hours of drive time.
Also the impact of the just local community, because putting all those vehicles that used to go over 22 now going up the junction there, it was impactful to everybody, and so they worked hard to get that done.
And Evans construction, who's a local contractor, just was amazing. And just the relationship, Bob Hammond’s got over 35 years of experience on that hill, and so his relationships with the Forest Service and with others, with our Idaho counterparts, and everything that was going on with the mudslide in the landslide all happening at the same time. It was a pretty proud moment.
We probably had close to 300 people that were working on just that, that project alone, it wasn't just the 10 people up in Teton County. There's a whole slew of people back here supporting them, making that happen, which was pretty cool.
And so from a prideful perspective, it quickly realized that I do have the pride and the passion at this agency that I had at the other one. It really solidified, if you could - I don't ever want to wish this on anybody, but it was probably one of the coolest team building, you know, exercises known to man. And it just fell in our lap and we were able to execute and show how we could work together and how we could utilize our relationships to make things work a little quicker.
And the federal government stepped in and they helped. And it was, it was a pretty amazing project, and still is. I mean, they're still reconstructing the original road, which will be done this spring, but all of, all of it, from the accountants that were paying the bills to the engineers who were designing it to the construction managers out in the field, it was pretty, pretty amazing. And still is. I mean, they're still doing it. I
Wendy Corr:
Wow - again, like you say, you don't wish that experience on anybody, because it was an incredible disaster, but what an opportunity for everybody to show what they could do. I just think that's fantastic.
Darin Westby:
At one time, I said, all right, now is the time - looking at a room full of engineers - I said, now's the time to let the engineering freak flag fly and just solve the problem. You know, now is our time to save the world here. You know, very rarely do engineers get the Hurrah. And so they definitely were able to do that at that project.
Wendy Corr:
I love that so much. I love that so much! Now, you've had a similar challenge, now, with I 80 and with the Green River tunnel, and tragically, there was loss of life on that. Again, this was through no fault of WYDOT. There were no problems with the roads. This is just one of those things that happened.
And so your crew flew into action to create detours, to make a new route now. So now there is two way traffic again. Tell me about how WYDOT jumped into action after the tragedy at the Green River tunnel?
Darin Westby:
Sure. Yeah. I mean, right when it happened, obviously there was every local EMS, fire, local police, Sheriff, the ambulance service, the hospital, they went into critical operations. Everybody just seamlessly went to work on trying to, one, get everybody backed up so we're not seeing a whole bunch of people in Rock Springs.
So we start backing up all the way into Cheyenne at that point. Worked with our local guys, worked with the Sweetwater County and Green River, the city of Green River, and got that traffic rerouted through town, which I 80 in this stretch is about 9000 cars each way, per day.
And so they knew that that was not a long term solution, so having all those vehicles go through there, so they quickly - We sent our geologists as well as our bridge inspector out to make sure that the eastbound tunnel was not compromised. And as soon as they got that solidified, they were working on what it was going to take to get head to head traffic through i 80, get them, all those vehicles out of Green River.
So I had the white out side of the house, the engineering side of the house, working on that solution with the locals, and all the while the law enforcement side, the Highway Patrol, was working with DCI and as well as the other law enforcement agents, sheriff's office, to really start working on the investigation, which takes, as you can imagine, this is going to take a lot of time to really digest all that information to come back with the investigation.
And so they worked with DCI. They have some technology that can three dimensionally map, you know, the scene. And so that expedited the ability to start extricating vehicles out of the way, and then they moved the technology further, did the analysis and then removed vehicles, and just kept working their way through the tunnel.
Wendy Corr:
That's fascinating. Oh my goodness. Talk about an interagency cooperation, too.
Darin Westby:
Oh yeah. No, we work really well with DCI. We work well with all law enforcement, but DCI really came to our aid on this incident. You know, the one thing - you know, this one got a lot of press, because there was, you know, it was significant, right? But, I mean, we have 20, 30-car, 40-car pileups on on the interstate, not daily, but quite a bit. And so our team knows how to, yeah, our team knows how to deal with it, and it takes time.
I mean, it's a very systematic process in which they have to go through to investigate these things. So they work really well with other teams. And with it being in a tunnel, we couldn't use our standard drone technology that we would fly over.
Like another pile up that we had just recently on I 80, we were able to fly our drones and map everything. In the tunnel, we didn't have the satellite coverage, and so we were able to utilize DCI’s Farrow System to get in there and investigate, which expedited the cleanup and pulling all the vehicles out so they can get in there a little bit further.
You know, the fire was pretty extensive, and I remember at the press conference, just looking at the fire chief sitting in the press conference, pretty stoic. I mean, they did not want to pull out when the fire was going on, because that's what they do, right?
But the fire was so hot. It was the concrete and steel on the liner that was over the top of that, they were expanding at different rates, and so the concrete was just coming off the steel and dropping. Well, I can't have, it wasn't my call to pull them out, but I understand why they pulled out. I wouldn't want a, you know, 400 pound piece of concrete dropping on anybody. And so rightfully, they pulled out.
That was not what they wanted to do. And I felt bad for them because that's what they do, but it was the right call, and I felt bad for them for having to make that call, but definitely I didn't want anybody else to get hurt, and not knowing what was in the tunnel. Last thing we need is more injuries or, god forbid, more fatalities.
But it's just amazing to me when, and I say it's the Wyoming way, I'm sure we're not unique, but it definitely was a testament to everything that happened with that tunnel crash. Everybody working together, seamlessly, communicating, well, you know, directing traffic.
Doing whatever needed to be done to make this a successful outcome of trying to get that traffic back up and running and get the investigation done. Try to sift through whatever wreckage is left to see if there's any remaining, you know, unknowns in there.
And so right now we're working on, we got an industrial hygienist through there, and they were investigating to see, you know, what type of protective equipment do we need to carry, from a personnel perspective, when we're cleaning up the tunnels, getting them ready to be analyzed and come up with a solution.
But again, it wasn't just the three guys out on the field. There's a slew of engineers and geologists and material experts back here helping already come up with potential solutions, even working with the legislature right now on potential funding. And so it's a testament to everybody, understanding how important and impactful that section of road is.
If it goes down, how impactful it is to not just the people of Green River. They're getting impacted with 9000 cars going through their day each way, but the amount of commerce that's slowing down, that needs to get, you know, to the coast or wherever they're headed. And so yeah, thank you for that.
It's been a long couple of weeks, but the the crew handling it still continues to handle it well, and even for Doug and his crew over here at the front, here, we get all the phone calls, and so they've been working hard to just try to keep the information flowing and get the traffic rerouted. And so it's, it's been an interesting couple of weeks, for sure.
But unfortunately, it was the same district - so our state's broken up into five districts, and district three is southwest Wyoming that goes all the way up to Jackson, so it's the same group of people that had to deal with Teton pass who are dealing with this. And so hopefully, if we have another one, I hope it's not district three, because I don't know that I'd have anybody left to employ over there.
Wendy Corr:
But boy, are they having opportunities to really stretch their creativity and really put all those years of experience to work. What a great, great crew you have, and we are, as a state, how blessed are we to have these people working on our behalf to keep everything moving?
I wish that we had more time. We're running really - by the time we're done, we're going to be an hour here, but I want to make sure that we get a chance to hear about, in addition to all of these other projects that you have going on in your day job, you’ve got a side gig going on that people, especially in southeast Wyoming, need to know about.
Darin Westby, you've got Westby Edge Brewing. You go from being the head and the director of the Wyoming Department of Transportation, but you also have a fantastic business there in Cheyenne, which is so 180 from the day to day Wyoming Department of Transportation.
Tell us about your passion project, Westby Edge brewing.
Darin Westby:
Well, thanks. No, we, you know, I talked a little bit about Frontier Days, and all of that leadership was going away in 2021, and so my wife and I said, what's our next community involvement? What are we going to get involved in?
And at the time in 2019 the Reed Rail Corridor Beautification Project was kind of hot and heavy. And so we said, well, let's get into downtown revitalization. So we put our house on the market, thinking we had six months to figure out our next move, and it sold in a day and a half.
So, somebody was telling us, go forth. And so we found this property down on the west edge, right on the railroad tracks that they're going to beautify, and so we went all in. So that was February 2020, that we bought the property, sold the house at the end of 2019, moved into our daughter's basement. She was pregnant, had her baby.
We moved out. COVID happened, we had to move out because I didn't want to bring COVID back to the baby. And so we made a little apartment down there, and so we spent the next three and a half years, evenings and weekends just elbow greasing it and doing whatever we could to try to start a new business. And it's been, we opened June of ‘23 June 1 of ‘23, so that was three and a half years roughly.
And it was a fun little project, it still is a fun little project. I look at it as my retirement plan, because there will, it's a 100 year old structure. We saved it from getting torn down, so there will always be something for me to tinker on there and so that that'll keep me busy.
Wendy Corr:
Engineering, keep that engineering going. That is fantastic. Yeah, I got on your Facebook page, and I'm like, you're promoting trivia night at Westby Edge. I'm like, wait a minute. So I went over it. How fun is that? And it's got to really feed your creative side as well, because it's so different from what you do on a day to day basis. For an introvert, though, for an introvert to run a Brewing Company?
Darin Westby:
My job is to talk to people and do dishes, so I'm really good at doing dishes, and it forced me to go out and thank the customers when they come in and see if they're having a good time. And, yeah, it's, it's, it's fun.
Our daughter's the brewer. Our son and daughter in law is the marketing people, and my oldest daughter, she's the event planner, so she coordinates all that. So yeah, it's a family business, and we all just do what we can to keep the doors open and give the community something cool to come to and enjoy and keep them from going to Fort Collins to have the same experience.
Wendy Corr:
There you go. Darin Westby, this has been such an interesting conversation, and your life has, it's just so multifaceted. And I just think this has been such a great time and it gives us a glimpse, us out here on the outside, looking into the Wyoming Department of Transportation - this conversation gives us a look at the people who are behind these decisions.
It's not just a faceless organization and a bunch of trucks going down the highway. It's real people who are making decisions that help us, but real Wyoming people. And Darin, you are a true Wyoming person, and just a shining example of what you can do, growing up here in Wyoming and moving forward and really making our state better.
So thank you, Darin, so much.
Darin Westby:
Thank you Wendy. It's been fun. I enjoyed talking with you, and anytime you want me back to bore you some more, I'd be more than happy.
Wendy Corr:
Well, since you didn't bore us, I think that we will hold you to that. Folks, we are so grateful to have people like Darin Westby leading our organizations, leading these state run organizations that really do impact us day to day. And it's been so much fun getting to know Darin and the behind the scenes workings of this organization and this agency.
We hope that you will come back next week, we'll have another great guest on The Roundup next week, but until then, have a fantastic week. We will talk to you later.
