The Wyoming Department of Transportation discussed future plans for the roads in Albany County today. The State Transportation Improvement Program meeting (STIP) was held this afternoon at the WYDOT district office.

Officials with WYDOT discussed plans for roads in the county until fiscal year 2021, and several projects will include roads in and around Laramie.

Statewide, construction funding for 2015 is expected to be $264.5 million. Between $50 million and $60 million of those funds will be used for construction in WYDOT District One, which includes Albany, Laramie, and Carbon Counties.

Due to funding restraints, WYDOT continues to transition to more of a pavement preservation program instead of a transportation improvement program. Pavement preservation projects address only roughness, rutting, cracking, or friction problems on roadways. Such projects are not intended to widen, straighten or reconstruct the roads.

Projects in Albany County discussed for fiscal year 2015 include:

  • An overlay for WY 130 between mileposts 34 and 47.
  • Marginal mill and overlay for Interstate 80 between mileposts 314 and 319.
  • Widening and overlay for US 30 between mileposts 283 and 290.
  • In Laramie, construction of Bill Nye Avenue near the new high school.
  • New construction of a divided section on US 287 Laramie south between mileposts 420 and 425.
  • District-wide Dynamic Message Signs and Hazard Advisory Radio message signs (nine total).
  • The Laramie Cirrus Sky Technology Park Bicycle/Pedestrian Pathway.
  • Refurbishing the Lincoln Monument at the Summit Rest Area.
  • Patching on Grand Avenue between 30th Street and Boulder Drive and on Herrick Lane at Interstate 80.
  • A District-wide chip-seal program on US 30 between mileposts 316 and 317.

Plans for construction of the Harney Street Bridge for access to West Laramie were also discussed in the meeting. Construction will begin on that project in fiscal year 2016. Once that project is complete, the viaduct on Clark Street will be torn down.

Another notable future project includes construction on Grand Avenue between 3rd and 15th Streets. That project is now slated to begin in fiscal year 2019 and will include an overlay and bringing the street up to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards.

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