Following fatal pedestrian collision, Teton County officials ask WYDOT for safety upgrades
JACKSON — Following the death of a beloved community member, town and county officials are talking with the Wyoming Department of Transportation about making streets safer for pedestrians across Jackson.
“There’s been a very tragic event lately that brought this item into the forefront in a way that it hadn’t recently,” Mayor Arne Jorgensen said. “It’s been an item that’s been talked about for a long time.”
On Monday, the Teton County Board of County Commissioners approved a Jackson Town Council-approved letter asking WYDOT officials to assess and potentially implement safety improvements for pedestrians at intersections along U.S. Highway 89, which turns into Broadway Avenue in town.
“What we’re asking WYDOT is to sit down with us, identify what are the best solutions,” said Charlotte Frei, the town and county’s transportation manager.
For years, community members have advocated for more protections for pedestrians on town streets. Those conversations have largely involved crossings along Highway 89.
WYDOT owns the highway, and has jurisdiction for the street that passes through Jackson. Still, town and county officials have historically chipped in with input and proposed safety measures, including installing stands with blaze orange flags that pedestrians use while crossing.
“This is our main street,” Jorgensen said. “We have a legitimate concern and input on it, and I don’t think [WYDOT] would disagree with that.”
Conversations about pedestrian safety have been renewed after the Dec. 12 collision that killed Helga Tesar, 72, at the intersection of West Broadway Avenue and North Glenwood Street. She died on Dec. 19.
After Tesar died, Sanford “Sandy” Ress, 83, was charged with homicide by vehicle, careless driving and traffic offenses. He pleaded not guilty and is now demanding a speedy jury trial.
In their letter, officials also referred to the June incident in which longtime portrait photographer Florence McCall was killed by a drunk driver while riding her bicycle at the intersection of South Park Loop Road and Melody Creek Lane.
After the December collision, Jackson town councilors and Teton County commissioners instructed staff to draft a letter to WYDOT regarding officials’ concerns about crosswalks and pedestrian safety.
“It definitely prompted more action on the town and county’s part,” said Town of Jackson Public Works Director Johnny Ziem.
Darin Kaufman, WYDOT District 3’s traffic engineer, said the department has been hearing about issues or concerns at intersections along Broadway for years. As WYDOT officials await the town and county’s letter, Kaufman said staff have recently been investigating the safety of Jackson intersections, collecting existing data, and studying pedestrian behavior.
“We’re actively looking at it,” Kaufman said.
The new letter from town councilors and county commissioners asks WYDOT to conduct studies that evaluate solutions for pedestrian crossings on Broadway, including adding more crossing beacons that light up when pedestrians press a button. One such beacon currently exists on a crosswalk between the Mountain Modern Motel and El Abuelito on West Broadway.
The letter also asks WYDOT to collaborate on education about distracted and impaired driving, with town and county officials adding that they were willing to help fund pedestrian safety solutions.
A growing coalition of Jackson residents are growing impatient at the pace of change, according to former town councilor Jim Rooks.
Rooks was struck by a car and seriously injured in 2019 while biking on the National Elk Refuge Road.
“These things have been going on for decades, and we haven’t seen solutions. So it’s time to get some improvement going,” said Rooks, who is now the pathways safety coordinator for Friends of Pathways. “I think we need to do them, I think we need to do them now, and I think there’s a vast majority of our community that would agree with these things.”
WYDOT could consider proposed solutions, Kaufman said, adding that the department would need to evaluate certain criteria before installing new devices. All existing traffic control devices had to be evaluated before the department considered them, he said.
When asked about the perceived delay in pedestrian improvements, Kaufman said that WYDOT had not been asked to “address them at this level” before.
WYDOT had not flagged the issue, he said, because the department’s data did not point to a “reported pedestrian crash history” along the highway corridor.
Still, Kaufman said that data had limitations. It wouldn’t pick up on near misses or close calls, since those often go unreported.
It’s “hard to say” how long potential pedestrian safety improvements will take, Kaufman said, adding that the timeline will be affected by funding. The recent collision brought renewed attention to pedestrian safety along crossings in Jackson, he said.
“It doesn’t mean that we never had these talks,” Kaufman said. “I think this put it out in the forefront.”
This story was published on Jan. 28, 2026.