CHEYENNE — The real target for interstate highway tolls is out-of-state truck drivers.
That was one point made in one of the array of studies of the subject on tolling that piled up since the 2000’s.
Wyoming has danced around the project for a variety of reasons. One was the inability to insure that federal government would permit the tolling on a Wyoming federal highway.
A study conducted more than10 years ago showed that a typical section of I-80 in Wyoming had a traffic count of about 13,000 vehicles per day, with heavy trucks making up about half of that traffic. Interstate 80 serves as a primary route for trucks hauling goods between Northern California and New Jersey.
Traffic has continued to increase, with heavy truck volume alone projected to approach nearly 16,000 per day by 2037. And estimates showed then that maintaining I-80 in its present condition over the next 30 years would cost more than $6.4 billion after inflation adjustment, according to internet sources.
Regardless of past history, a new draft tolling bill is waiting for action in the Joint Interim Committee on Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs.
The new one is 26LSO-0108. It is scheduled to be heard on August 19th in Cheyenne.
The trucking industry always has fought this bill, so far successfully.
In past sessions, many residents and truckers expressed concerns about the potential economic impacts of tolling on travel, commerce, local businesses and traffic patterns.
The new bill will be built on the main structure of two previous tolling bills that failed to pass the Legislature.
The most recent was in 2023 when the Senate passed a committee bill 16-13. Senate File 73 went to the House committee, where it was tabled.
Nothing much has changed in the interim except probably to get worse as far the condition of the highways, chiefly Interstate 80.
The Wyoming Department of Transportation continues to face a severe shortfall in funding. Revenues to the department are primarily fuel tax, vehicle registration and some federal mineral royalty money, according to Cowboy State Daily.
But those revenues don’t add up to enough to close a $354 million dollar funding gap – which could mean that future road projects and maintenance fall by the wayside, ultimately affecting the state’s economy.
Or as Sen. Charles Scott, R-Natrona, said, the big trucks are the ones tearing up I-80 and they are not paying their way.
“They are being subsidized by the taxpayer,” Scott said.
He said he thought the previous issue of federal authority will not be a problem now
He also said he did not know how the Freedom Caucus anti-tax group which controls the House, feels about tolling.
“We need it to pass,” Scott said in a telephone interview.
Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, who sponsored the 2023 bill, said Thursday he still thinks it's a great idea.
Case said the bill could be is designed to take care of local traffic.
This is something we will get into if the bill gets moving.
With the new committee and the Freedom Caucus power in the House, it is a question whether this bill will finally get full traction.
Maybe after 20 years or so it is time.
Contact Joan Barron at 307-632-2534 or jmbarron@bresnan.net
