JACKSON, Wyo. — A citizen coalition of Wyoming and Idaho residents has released a call for immediate action following another harrowing vehicle accident on Teton Pass on Monday night.
Citizens to Make Teton Pass Safer is a volunteer coalition that grew from the Teton Pass safety meeting at the Old Wilson Schoolhouse last month. The group is calling for the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) and the Idaho Transportation Department to enact temporary restrictions on RVs, trailers and heavy trucks on WY22 over Teton Pass while permanent improvements are being discussed. Jared Smith is a retired transportation engineer who lives in Wilson and is a member of the group’s steering committee.
“Every professional engineer licensed in Wyoming is bound by a code of ethics whose first canon is to hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public,” Smith said in a statement from Make Teton Pass Safer. “I grew up on this road — my mother’s brakes failed on that descent when I was a boy, and we were lucky. If there is another death on Teton Pass this fall, I want to be able to say we did everything within our power to prevent it. Today I cannot say that. These restrictions should stay in place until we know that relaxing them is safe and merited.”
The statement from Make Teton Pass Safer was circulated on Tuesday, Aug. 18, and the coalition is asking that interim safety measures be put in place within a week. The suggested temporary measures include prohibiting RVs and vehicles towing trailers, a restriction that is already in place every winter, and reducing the gross vehicle weight limit from the current 60,000 pounds to 40,000 pounds. According to the group, Wyoming law gives WYDOT the authority to set route-specific weight restrictions.
Corridor improvements that Make Teton Pass Safer hopes to see accelerated involve improved advance signage and highway advisory radio stations, the addition of a route-information pullout on each approach to the Pass, and the inclusion of restrictions in navigation apps used by drivers. The coalition acknowledged that officials have been working on the issues, and that some decisions must be made at a higher level. However, members ask that those decisions be taken up now instead of waiting for the next legislative cycle.
WYDOT has been poring over data and looking at the various types of vehicles going over the Pass. WYDOT Resident Engineer Bob Hammond told Buckrail that the most recent collision is just another reason for the agency to evaluate every aspect. He said that many different safety options remain on the table.
“We’ve taken information from the public meeting; we’ve taken information from various sources from the public,” Hammond said. “We’re looking at what other states are doing, what other countries do, for keeping people safe on the steep mountain roads. Then the process of going through all that information to determine what would be best for making our little part of the world that much safer.”
