roads

WYDOT is working to reopen portions of Interstate 80 and Interstate 25 following this week’s massive snowstorm.

Matt Murphy is with WYDOT District 1 in Southeast Wyoming. He says his department’s main priority is clearing snow drifts on I-80, some reaching as high as 10 feet. And the wind complicates things.   

“It looks like the high wind is supposed to continue for most of the day today. And that’s going to just kind of prolong the drifts and contribute to poor visibility especially in our wind-prone areas,” said Murphy.

As many local governments are finalizing their budgets for the upcoming year, the city of Laramie is expected to feel the financial crunch happening at the state level.

The city is receiving about $2.2 million less from the state. In response to that, along with stagnant sales tax revenue, the city will eliminate 14 positions from various departments. Those positions include an animal control officer and two officers in the Laramie Police Department's Traffic Enforcement Unit.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation has released a new smartphone app to provide users with travel information and road conditions. Users of the app can plan their trip according to road conditions through WYDOT's map feature. The app, called 'Wyoming 511,' can read aloud updates about conditions via text message.

One of the state’s most popular recreation areas is getting too much love with roads and camp sites in the Pole Mountain area cropping up everywhere. So the Medicine Bow National Forest is tackling a large-scale travel plan that would help decide what roads and camp sites should be kept, and which need to go.

Spokesman Aaron Voos says the agency relied in part on public comments to create their proposed plan.

Wyoming ranks first in the nation for its overall road system. That’s according to a new study from the Reason foundation, a Libertarian-leaning think tank.

David Hartgen is a professor at the University of North Carolina and the author of the study. He says Wyoming ranked so well in part because it budgets wisely. The cowboy state has over 7000 miles of roads to maintain, but spends about half as much as the average state does to do it.

"Off-the-Air" Situations around the Network and other Technical Issues

Lander/Riverton (90.5, 91,9, and 102.9) - 2/5/18

Due to a high wind storm over the weekend, WPR (Lander), Classical Wyoming and Wyoming Sounds are off the air in the Lander/Riverton area.  WPR listeners can listen to 90.9 and 91.3.   Technicians are traveling to the area to make repairs.

Dubois (91.3) - 1/2/18

Service has been restored to normal power levels in Dubois.

Sheridan (91.3) - 1/18/18

Wyoming’s highways rank third in the nation in performance and efficiency.  That’s according to an annual highway report by the Reason Foundation, a non-profit think tank that studies public policy.  Author David Hartgen says Wyoming gets a lot less money than other states, but spends it well.

The Wyoming Senate has given initial approval to a bill that would increase the gas tax by $.10 per-gallon. 

The State Senate has defeated a bill that would take money from the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund to maintain and construct roads.

It would divert over 57 million dollars in fiscal year 2014 that would have flowed into the PMTF.  When combined with a ten cent increase in the gas tax, it would raise nearly 72-million dollars.  Senator Stan Cooper says it would help the state catch up with its road maintenance needs and provide more substantial funding.
 

A Wyoming legislative committee is set to hear a proposal to raise fuel taxes.

The House Revenue Committee is meeting this morning in Cheyenne to consider a bill that would hike fuel taxes by a dime. The tax would increase from 14 cents to 24 cents a gallon on gasoline.

Gov. Matt Mead is pushing the tax increase. He says it would raise more than $70 million a year for state and local road projects.

The governor says increasing gasoline taxes would allow out-of-state motorists to foot much of the bill for maintaining the state's highway system.