WILSON, Wyo. — Hooray!
After two years of construction, the new Snake River Bridge is paved, epoxied and painted, allowing four lanes of traffic to travel over the river.
Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) Resident Engineer Bob Hammond told Buckrail that a few minor, final touches will be added to the new bridge span, including things like more delineators. No more lane closures are anticipated on the bridge this summer, and none of the final work is expected to impede traffic.
Hammond noted that the project’s original completion date was scheduled for June 30, and that the four lanes were open to traffic on June 30 as anticipated. The epoxy overlay completed in July was “not part of the original contract,” he pointed out, saying that he felt the project was completed on time.
While the final financial analysis is still underway, Hammond said the project has come in “overall pretty close to budget.”
“I think Ames did a fantastic job,” Hammond said of the project’s general contractor.
The previous bridge, constructed in 1960, was deemed structurally deficient in 2014. The new bridge and “Florida-T” intersection (at WY22 and WY390) was designed to solve congestion issues in the area, and to provide wildlife crossings and pedestrian crossings.
“People in general feel the bridge and intersection are working very well,” Hammond said. “In my observation and tracking, the delays around there are really not much at all. Pretty much all of the delays caused by the signal or congestion by the intersection or bridge seem to have dissipated with the additional lanes and bridge capacity.”
Hammond noted that evening rush-hour traffic on WY22 isn’t as much of a snarl as it has been in summers past, observing that it isn’t “backing up from the intersection anymore.”
As this construction chapter closes, WYDOT is preparing to tackle the stretch of WY22 between the WY390 intersection and the “Y intersection” at US89, where the highway reaches Jackson. Learn more about the timeline for that project here.
