Dump the bumps
The Board of Weston County Commissioners agreed to take another look at Old Highway 85 and reconsider the planned scope of work, prior to a bridge replacement scheduled for 2024 and additional road work on the docket for 2025.
Vice Chairman Nathan Todd and Commissioners Ed Wagoner and Don Taylor were approached by several concerned residents during a Wyoming Department of Transportation State Transportation Improvement Program presentation on Sept. 20. Chairwoman Marty Ertman and Commissioner Tony Barton were not in attendance.
The main gripe coming from the residents in attendance were the large bumps/holes in the road created by culvert inadequacies. The group also asked the commissioners to reconsider paving Old Highway 85 for the entire length instead of stopping at Greenhouse Road.
“Let me talk to Jimmy (Hansen, Weston County Road and Bridge superintendent) to see if he is able to drive the road this afternoon,” Todd said.
Taylor said it was his opinion that the road would have to be torn up and the culverts reset in order to fix the problem. He also noted that fixing the holes and bumps would not be a simple patch job.
Todd said that he assumed that the county would have the problem areas fixed before WYDOT comes in to replace the bridge and repair the road in 2024 and 2025.
Scott Taylor, WYDOT district engineer for District 4, said that the county is able to change the scope of work on the project if the board so chooses. He noted that adjustments could affect the scope and cost of the project. He agreed to provide additional numbers to the board so they can reconsider the plan for Old Highway 85 repairs.
In 2021, after receiving over 70 comments on the proposed Old Highway 85 bridge replacement, the county decided to replace the bridge and address the rest of the road the next summer, according to News Letter Journal records.
Information provided by the department describes the bridge as the Old Highway 85 Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad bridge, located on County Road 1A, approximately 3 miles south of Newcastle.
The estimated cost for replacing the bridge is $3.8 million ($618,000 for design and $3.2 million for construction).
Ninety percent of the funding will come from the Federal Highway Administration’s Bridge Replacement Off-System program, said Laura Dalles, public involvement specialist for WYDOT District 4. The county will be responsible for 10% of the cost.
The Commissioners also considered removing the bridge without replacement, which had an estimated cost of $839,000, but relented to the weight of public comments received in 2021.
The commissioners have engaged WYDOT to improve Old Highway 85, after the bridge replacement, using funds from the department’s Commission Road Improvement Program, also known as CRIP. At the time, Scott Taylor had informed the board that the project would be funded 85% by the CRIP program with a 15% match from the county.
According to Scott Taylor, original preliminary estimates ranged from $135,000 for leaving the entire stretch a gravel road to approximately $2 million to overlay the 3.63 miles.
The current scope of work, Scott Taylor said on Sept. 7, is to pave from the edge of city limits to Greenhouse Road. From Greenhouse Road to the replacement bridge is scheduled to have full-depth reclamation completed. These projects are scheduled for 2025.
“It is not set in stone. … We are trying to put the best plan together,” Don Taylor said, noting that the county would have to work through the economics of potential plan changes.
