State OKs emergency funding for bridge

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
After four months of interrupted access to their homes, landowners on the Cheyenne River Road now have hope that bridge issues that have caused trouble since April will be resolved. According to Brooke Weigel, the Weston County Road and Bridge office manager, the county secured $880,000 in emergency grant monies from the State Loan and Investment Board on Aug. 8 to replace the bridge. 
Rick Williams, superintendent of Road and Bridge, presented estimates to the county commissioners during their June 4 meeting. Williams estimates that a bridge replacement with a temporary bypass would cost about $1.1 million for a two-lane Big R Bridge. Costs for a BROS (bridge replacement “Off System” through the WYDOT) bridge, which would make the road usable year round, would run about $1.5 million. 
In a letter to the State Loan and Investment Board dated Aug. 6, Williams said that he was “addressing his trepidations regarding the Black Thunder Bridge Structure DYD, located at milepost 11.9 on Weston County Road No. 54 known as the Cheyenne River Road.” 
In the letter requesting funds for the bridge, he explained that the bridge had been damaged in March when flooding due to heavy rains occurred. 
“The bridge has been closed by barriers that are restricting traffic from crossing the west side of the bridge and that the bridge currently had a maximum load of five tons, as instructed by WYDOT (in April),” Williams said the in the letter. 
The bridge, according to Williams, provides the fastest route for emergency services to access the residents, land and cattle on the other side of Black Thunder Creek. 
“With this bridge down, the alternate route is to travel 37 miles down State Highway 459, turning onto Weston County Lynch Road, and then turning again onto another County Road known as Ridge Road/Cheyenne River Road,” Williams said in the letter. 
Adding to the problem, Williams said, is that any sort of rain or snowfall makes the road inaccessible. According to Williams, the road becomes a hazard with immediate ruts, potholes and washed-out culverts, leading to the road’s closure. 
In addition, Williams said, he has concerns about maintaining the alternate route, essentially leaving the landowners landlocked. 
“During an emergency situation, emergency vehicles would not be able to drive this route faster than 35 miles per hour, even on a sunny day,” Williams said. 
Road and Bridge crews, he said, would have a problem providing access for the fire department, sheriff’s office and ambulance service.
“There are numerous homes, with cattle, located on the other side of Black Thunder Creek that I am concerned about as we enter the warm months of summer and the ruthless winter months we know Wyoming brings,” he said.
Williams then asked the SLIB to secure funds for Weston County.
On Aug. 7, armed with his letter and letters of support from the Newcastle Ambulance Service, Upton Ambulance Service, Weston County Sheriff’s Office and the Weston County Fire District, as well as a number of stories and frustrations from landowners back home, Commission Chairman Tony Barton and Commissioner Ed Wagoner met with the elected officials on the SLIB in Cheyenne before the official board meeting the following day. 
Commissioner Marty Ertman joined the group for the official SLIB meeting, Barton said.
According to Barton, the county received approval for $880,000 in emergency funding on an 80-20 (match) grant. Weigel reported that with a  bridge replacement estimate of $1.1 million the county will be responsible for $220,000 that will come out of the county road fund. 
“I find it refreshing that we can go down as local officials and meet with the top officials in the state and have a frank conversation with them,” Barton said. “They were receptive to it being an emergency.”
Weigel reported on Aug. 12 that Williams and Commissioner Tracy Hunt were working on the bid for the bridge repairs. She said that the project is projected to be completed by the end of the year, with a start date in mid-fall as long as everything goes as planned.