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Wyoming Looks To Congress For Highway Funding

The Director of the Wyoming Department of Transportation is hopeful that a bipartisan attempt in the US Senate to pass a transportation bill will be successful.

Congress has not been able to agree on similar legislation in recent years, but Thursday a Senate committee approved a measure that ensures Wyoming’s share of the distribution will pay for repairs to hundreds of miles of highways across the state.  Without a highway bill, Wyoming Department of Transportation Director John Cox says things get put off.

"It has a negative effect on the states because it doesn’t allow us to plan long-term, we don’t have a predictable funding stream, so we are all obviously fans of a bill being approved and enacted that is multi-year," Cox says.

US Senator John Barrasso says the funding formula is important because it provides enough money to maintain highways in a rural state like Wyoming. Another Senate committee is looking into how to pay for the bill.  A recent report said the highway trust could go broke by August.

Bob Beck retired from Wyoming Public Media after serving as News Director of Wyoming Public Radio for 34 years. During his time as News Director WPR has won over 100 national, regional and state news awards.
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