JACKSON, Wyo. — The Board of Teton County Commissioners (BCC) on Tuesday approved construction plans and costs for the long-planned Teton Pass Trail — a separated pathway on the west side of Teton Pass that will be built in segments starting at Trail Creek Campground.
For now, the available funds will be used to construct three of five segments of the pathway. The three connected segments will begin at Trail Creek Campground and stretch about 1.7 miles east, ending at the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) weigh station. The full Teton Pass Trail project would be just over 3.5 miles and end farther east at the Coal Creek parking area. Project managers are also considering the option of building a natural-surface single track trail from the WYDOT weigh station to Coal Creek that would stand in for segments four and five until there are more funds for building.
“This would serve a lot of the users that will presumably be using this facility, in that there’s a lot of mountain bikers who want to make that loop up to Coal Creek, and then Mail Cabin back to Mike Harris,” Teton County Pathways Coordinator Brian Schilling told the BCC on Tuesday. “So there’s a great utility of having a single track trail extension up to Coal Creek for the time being.”
This phase of the project will cost about $5.75 million, with $3.75 million coming from the BUILD grant and a 20% local match of $937,493 coming from Teton County. An additional $1.06 million was donated from a fundraising effort led by an alliance of local outdoor advocacy groups, Save Teton Pass Trail (STPT).
In 2020, Teton County received $20 million in the form of a federal BUILD grant to be used for transportation projects spanning from Jackson to Driggs, Idaho. The Teton Pass Trail was part of that slate of initiatives to be funded by the grant. In September 2025, the BCC nearly pulled the plug on the project because of a dearth in local finances required for the 20% match. Ultimately, the BCC approved a plan for partial construction, stating that the pathway could be built as far as money could buy.
STPT volunteer Tim Young previously told Buckrail that the location of the future pathway is one of the most dangerous stretches for pedestrians, cyclists and skiers. He believes having an off-highway travel route will support safer travel for both motorized and nonmotorized traffic. The fundraising coalition has not yet met its $5 million goal, but over $1 million has been collected since the campaign kicked off in mid-November 2025. According to a press release from STPT, the campaign received over 400 individual donations, including a $500,000 gift from the Winter family in memory of Nancy Winter.
“It is more expensive than originally scoped, but it’s a fantastic project that’s going to connect our two valleys,” Young told the BCC on Tuesday. “We’re grateful for Teton County moving forward a year ago to say, ‘Let’s see if we can raise a little money and see how much we can get done.’ … This is all moving in a great direction.”
Teton County is assessing whether the current project (with the potential single track segments) would qualify for a $1 million Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP) grant originally approved for the entire project. That funding was intended to go toward building a pedestrian underpass connecting the Teton Pass Trail to the Coal Creek parking area. It is unknown whether a single track in the place of segments four and five would unlock the million-dollar FLAP funds.
