UPDATE at 3 p.m. on Sept. 25: WYDOT has announced that the approach to High School Road from US89 will be closed on Thursday, Sept. 26 from 9:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. for asphalt work. Signs will be posted on Wednesday afternoon to warn drivers about the closure. Drivers are encouraged to avoid the area or seek alternate modes of transport.
In addition, crews have been scheduled to work on Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. to expedite the project.
“By Wednesday of next week, the majority of the milled sections of US 26/89 Broadway should be paved and crews will be working on portions of Wyoming State Highway 22,” WYDOT said.
Original story follows
JACKSON, Wyo. — The Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) has announced that it will shorten daily work hours for paving operations on US89 through town in an effort to reduce traffic for commuters and school transportation services.
WYDOT and Evans Construction have been paving sections of the highway since Monday, Sept. 23. Instead of working from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. as originally planned, crews will work from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The agency said this might extend the overall duration of the project, noting that “crews are now hoping to have the paving work completed by Oct. 11.”
“The work being done on this section of roadway is important to the lifespan of the pavement on this heavily traveled road,”WYDOT District Construction Engineer Peter Stinchcomb said in the announcement. “These surfaces were in dire need of maintenance, resulting in the pavement overlay job you are seeing. Unfortunately, this maintenance has, and will, cause significant impacts to drivers.”
WYDOT strategically scheduled the project for this time of year to avoid summer traffic and to complete the work while temperatures are above 40 degrees F, which WYDOT says is necessary for the paving materials to “achieve proper compaction … for longevity.” This also contributes to WYDOT’s rationale for scheduling the work during the day instead of overnight.
“Warmer temperatures are not needed for milling, and that was part of the reason the milling work was able to be conducted at night,” Stinchcomb said. “In addition, milling work is less labor intensive, so there was less risk to crews working on the road. Paving operations are more labor intensive, with many more boots on the ground. Working at night greatly increases safety risks to workers and would require extensive lighting and other accommodations, increasing the overall cost of the job as well as increasing light and sound impacts to neighboring subdivisions and businesses.”
Drivers have expressed frustration over the traffic delays. Buckrail reader Hope Buchbinder emailed in the above photo of the traffic, saying that around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday she was “completely unable to drive out of any South Park neighborhood.”
On Monday, START Bus issued a statement encouraging riders to expect bus service delays of 30 minutes.
WYDOT’s Tuesday night update acknowledges that the situation is suboptimal.
“Unfortunately, with the lack of alternative routes to detour the traffic coming in and out of Jackson, the delays are inevitable whenever a lane reduction is necessary for construction or maintenance,” the update reads. “WYDOT works to mitigate the negative impacts when feasible.”
