Last week, the Joint Transportation Committee, on a 5-7 vote, defeated a proposed ten cent fuel tax increase. The Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) predicted a $411 million dollar shortfall in highway maintenance over the next ten years.
The last time the fuel tax was raised was in 2013. Unfortunately, tax revenues have not kept pace with construction costs.
Highway maintenance is an interesting science. Basically, if the highways are maintained regularly, then regular maintenance is all that is necessary to keep the highways in safe driving condition.
But if the preventative maintenance is not done regularly, then the highway needs to be completely reconstructed.
According to WYDOT, in 2025, surface treatments (fog seal, chip seal, small overlay) cost $210 thousand per mile for 2-lane roads, and $813 thousand for 4-lane roads. Resurfacing a highway, (2"+ mill and overlay) costs $840 thousand per mile for 2-lane roads and $2 million dollars per mile for 4-lane roads or about 4 times more than the preservation.
Total reconstruction, which means removal of all surfacing, subgrade repair and new surfacing costs $1.76 million dollars per mile for 2-lane roads, $2.625 million for 4-lane roads and $4.33 million dollars for 4-lane concrete roads.
Reconstruction of roads is ten times more costly than surface treatments.
The elephant in the room is, of course, Interstate 80 across southern Wyoming. At about 400 linear miles long and accounting for about 1,600 lane miles, I-80 is nearly one-quarter of all WYDOT’s highway miles.
Reconstructing the 403 miles of road with asphalt alone would cost a whopping $1.06 billion dollars at current prices. Reconstructing, of course, does not include construction of an additional third lane.
In 2023 statistics supplied to the legislature, every day, on I-80, on average 6,842 vehicles travel eastbound, and 6,986 vehicles travel westbound. (One has to wonder why 144 more vehicles per day travel westbound than eastbound, but I digress.)
Of those vehicles traveling on I-80, about 46% of the vehicles are semi-truck with 5+ axels. The rest of the vehicles are cars, pickups, motorcycles, small trucks and buses.
Luke Reiner, the former director of WDOT was quoted a couple of years ago in the Cowboy State Daily as saying: “In comparing the effect of a truck on a road to a car, I’ve heard a lot of numbers,” he explained. “The estimate range is anywhere from one truck equals 380 cars to one truck equals 4,000 cars.”
Truck traffic is far harder on Wyoming roads than car traffic. It is axiomatic that higher volumes of traffic need higher maintenance.
My old friend, former Senator Michael Von Flatern proposed constructing a third lane for truck traffic all the way along I-80 with mechanism designed to pay for the project solely with out-of-state dollars.
Constructing the third lane would have enhanced safety and avoided the game of interstate Frogger across the southern tier of our state. That proposal did not make it through the committee stage of the legislature.
Cowboy State Daily reported in September of this year that Wyoming is one of the deadliest states for trucking.
According to WYDOT, in the period from 2015 to mid-2025, there were 16,710 crashes and 181 fatal crashes in I-80. In addition, there were 80 multiple vehicle crashes resulting in 105 fatalities. According to the 2023 statistics, 51% of the crashes involved a commercial vehicle.
In March of 2020, there were two separate I-80 pileups involving 140 vehicles or more. In February of this year, there was a 26-car crash and fire at the Green River Tunnels on I-80.
In 2023, the legislature’s Management Council placed making I-80 safer as one of its highest priorities.
What a difference two years makes.
Now, it appears the legislature’s motivations are solely to reduce taxes despite the consequences. Safety appears to be a lesser priority.
WYDOT does an amazing job, with the budget dollars it is given. But WYDOT’s hands are tied by the Legislature’s budget constraints.
Unfortunately, playing a political game with the safety of our highways comes with a potential body count – and the people who will be injured will be our friends, neighbors and families.
Our parents and grandparents worked hard to create a better infrastructure for our country. They did it with long-term vision and consistency.
Now, it appears certain legislators are making a taxation for highway financing a campaign issue, instead of a safety priority. Remember the joys of driving poorly maintained roads when you find yourself in the ballot box next year.
Some things are more important than low taxes. One of those things is ensuring our friends and families are safe on the roads.
Tom Lubnau served in the Wyoming Legislature from 2004 - 2015 and is a former Speaker of the House. He can be reached at: YourInputAppreciated@gmail.com
