County considers Old Highway 85 repairs

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
The Board of Weston County Commissioners has engaged the Wyoming Department of Transportation for potential improvements to Old Highway 85 using funds from the department’s Commission Road Improvement Program, also known as CRIP. The needed improvements to the road were originally part of discussions about the bridge on Old Highway 85 that will be replaced through the Federal Highway Administrations Bridge Replacement Off-System program in 2024.
On March 2, Scott Taylor, Sheridan-based district engineer for WYDOT, met with the commissioners to provide preliminary estimates on various improvements that could be done on the stretch of old highway that is now a county road. The program, he said, would be 85% funded by the program with a 15% match from the county.
The project would be advertised, awarded and overseen by the  transportation department, although the county would determine the improvement route taken, Taylor said.
“There are options out there, whether you want to leave it paved or go to gravel,” Taylor said, presenting preliminary estimates to the board. Any of the options chosen would include full depth reclamation of the roadway.
Once that process is complete, Taylor said, the county could choose whether to repave the entire 3.63 miles of road, repave a portion, or leave the entire stretch of roadway as gravel.
According to Taylor, preliminary estimates range from $135,000 for leaving the entire stretch gravel to approximately $2 million to overlay the 3.63 miles. The overlay would be 3 inches, Taylor noted, which should be graded for higher-weight truck traffic than is currently allowed on the roadway. The commissioners expressed the most interest in paving the roadway to Greenhouse Road and graveling the remaining stretch of road to the bridge, a project that comes with a $630,000 estimate, Taylor said.
Taylor said that the project could be included in planning for when the bridge is replaced in 2024 or added to an overlay project on Highway 85 in 2025, which would allow for “economy of scale” savings on costs.
The one requirement from the department, besides the 15% match, is a mileage exchange of a road currently under the highway department to the county.
“You would take on a mile of state highway for each mile improved. We like to trade roads, mile for mile,” Taylor said, noting that both roadways would then be owned by the county.
“Those would be a county road from now on and not on the WYDOT schedule,” Taylor said. “We are trying to get rid of roads all the time.”
He added that the department had discussed Oil City Road, a 5-mile stretch of paved roadway, or the 1.2-mile Osage Spur as being potential candidates for the trade.
“Depending on what we do for improvements and how much preliminary costs change and shift, both of those sections are good candidates,” Taylor said.
Following Taylor’s presentation, the board approved drafting and presenting a letter to Taylor that would allow him to begin getting Weston County approved for the funding, no earlier than 2024.