As one of Wyoming’s longest and most-traveled roads, Interstate 80 would cost a lot of money to reconstruct.
I-80 spans the nation from coast to coast, connecting San Francisco to New York City, and is an important part of not only Wyoming’s economy, but the nation’s.
The highway can routinely see as many as 22,000 to 24,000 vehicles per day, especially near Wyoming’s borders with Nebraska and Utah, the Wyoming Department of Transportation has reported. Other areas can see as few as 8,000 vehicles a day.
WYDOT spokesperson Doug McGee told Cowboy State Daily that I-80 is also important to Wyoming because it's one of three major highways out-of-state drivers use to enter the state.
WYDOT estimates the cost of reconstructing it could be as much as $2.625 million per mile, or $1.06 billion in total.
That figure represents a “bare minimum” and does not take into account other costs associated with passing lanes, ramps and bridges, McGee said.
“That is the cost of doing business in the transportation industry,” McGee said.
Preservation Mode
While I-80 is currently in good shape, McGee said a projected $411 million highway budget shortfall has forced WYDOT into “preservation mode,” which hampers its ability to fully meet the needs of Wyoming’s drivers.
Instead of building or expanding roads to meet increased demand, WYDOT’s focus is on maintaining the roads instead.
“Our director has begun discussion that we need to do more than that,” McGee said. “Just preserving what we have is not going to meet the needs of the state.”
I-80 and other roads throughout the state that see heavy traffic from industrial vehicles could benefit from additional passing lanes and other improvements to ease congestion, McGee said. WYDOT would seek to execute these plans if it weren’t for the funding shortfall.
“Those passing lanes would allow for a better flow of traffic, safer flow of traffic,” he said. “You could move about your business a little quicker if you had a safe way to pass the vehicle in front of you.”
Without these improvements, Wyoming’s roads will continue to face wear and tear, which could lead to heightened maintenance costs that extend beyond preservation measures.
Such a situation could quickly turn into a difficult predicament for WYDOT if its budget woes are not rectified.
“If we maintain a status of underfunded for tool long then yes, eventually the transportation system would start to suffer issues,” McGee said.
'Social Media Issues'
Sen. Ed Cooper, R- Ten Sleep, sits on the Joint Transportation Committee that last month shot down a proposed 10-cent fuel tax increase.
He told Cowboy State Daily the 10-cent tax increase is the best solution for the state other than implementing tolling on I-80.
Members of the Legislature aren’t motivated to resolve the issue, however, given the persistence of other flashier concerns, he said.
“If it was as simple as one of us coming up with a solution, it would already be done,” he said of solving the WYDOT shortfall. “Everybody knows the problem, everybody complains about the problem but nobody wants to take any action on it."
Cooper lamented what he sees as a focus by some of his “far-right” colleagues on “social media issues,” rather than real-world problems facing Wyoming. These politicians are more intent on getting reelected than meeting the state’s present needs, he said.
“They’re spending way too much time on things like multiple, multiple election integrity bills when we’ve had four cases of election fraud in the last 40 years,” he said. “We’re fixing a problem that isn’t there when we have problems that are very real that aren’t being addressed."
Until these elected officials change their focus, the problem may not come to a timely resolution, the senator said.
“These folks are being directed out of Washington, D.C., on how to vote on every bill that comes across any committee or on the floor,” he added. “They’re being led by people who have no relationship to Wyoming and that’s not the right way to do business in Wyoming."
Cooper said he has been told as much as 50% of WYDOT’s budget goes toward I-80 because of the wear it faces from out-of-state truck that don’t contribute to Wyoming while passing through other than paying fuel tax.
“We need to address that traffic in my opinion and collect, maybe, some tax from them,” he said. “Without the proper maintenance, it will continue to deteriorate until the point where people are willing to pay the extra 10 cents.
“But right now, everyone seems to have the ‘no' attitude."
Legislative Action
Former Wyoming House Speaker Tom Lubnau wrote a column for Cowboy State Daily last month condemning legislators for failing to take action on the projected shortfall. The Joint Transportation Committee had shot down a proposal to introduce a 10-cent fuel tax increase, which would have bolstered the department’s floundering budget.
Lubnau described highway maintenance as something that is easy to neglect that can later snowball into massive repair projects.
“Highway maintenance is an interesting science,” Lubnau wrote. “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."
The Transportation Committee’s decision on the fuel tax will make it harder to provide the much-needed highway additions and could contribute to bigger issues down the line, Lubnau told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.
“It’s a lifeline for the country,” he said of I-80. “That’s a road that needs serious money spent on it to keep everybody who drives on it safe.”
Lubnau was one of the proponents of a bill which would create a toll to generate money from out-of-state drivers using state roads. A pool of moneyassociated with the measure would have exempted Wyoming drivers from the tolls.
These toll dollars would have provided the funds needed to add a third lane across Wyoming’s entire stretch of I-80 and further speed along traffic, Lubnau said.
“We couldn’t get it out of committee because nobody wanted to toll that road,” he said.
Lubnau said saving money during his time in the Legislature was a “mistake” given the way lawmakers are now spending surplus dollars on short-term solutions.
He predicted lawmakers during the coming budget session will likely supplement WYDOT’s budget with money generated from state investments in energy.
He added that a lack of immediate long-term planning by lawmakers could lead to bigger transportation problems down the road.
“It’s the old Chinese proverb: ‘When is the best time to plant a tree? 20 years ago. When is the second best time? Now,’” Lubnau said.
Jackson Walker can be reached at walker@cowboystatedaily.com.
