The Wyoming Senate has voted down a bill that would have named a stretch of highway between Meeteetse and Cody after the late Cody Sen. Hank Coe.

Coe died of cancer in January. He retired last year and represented Cody since 1989, including time as the Senate Majority Floor Leader and Senate President.

The bill was seen as a way to honor Coe since he had pushed for raising speed limits on state highways.

Baggs Sen. Larry Hicks said that many great legislators from the state have died and lawmakers haven't gone to this length to memorialize them.

"If we go down this road, every road in the state of Wyoming is going to be named after somebody. My guess is if we're going to do a memorial to Hank Coe we would raise the speed limit to 100 miles an hour," Hicks said.

Hicks added that Coe's legacy will always remain in the legislature and within the lawmakers who looked up to him.

The bill had passed the House, but failed in the Senate on final debate by five votes.

After the vote, Casper Sen. Bill Landen said this effort wasn't the only way to pay tribute to Coe, there would be plenty of ways to do so both in the legislature and locally.

"Thank you for bringing the bill because it gave us an opportunity to remember a really good senator," he said, after voting in support of the bill.

Have a question about this story? Contact the reporter, Catherine Wheeler, at cwheel11@uwyo.edu.