Taylor wants to close bypass

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
With the hopes of driving traffic to Main Street, downtown business owner and Weston County Commissioner Don Taylor asked the Newcastle City Council on May 17 to submit a request to the Wyoming Department of Transportation to detour out-of-county traffic down Main Street instead of over the U.S. Highway 16 bypass.  
“There is a way through the highway department giving us the ability to close or detour roads, specifically the bypass, during busy weekends and holidays, leaving it open to truck and local traffic,” Taylor said. 
According to Taylor, he learned through discussion with WYDOT that the option for closure was available to Newcastle if the council made a formal request in writing to the department. The request would need to include specific dates for closure. 
“The reason for doing that … would be to make people come downtown during holidays and weekends,” Taylor said. 
As a Main Street business owner, he said, he sees the opportunity to drive tourists downtown, promoting businesses that are already established and providing an additional reason for new businesses to look to Main Street for a location. 
“I see traffic go around Newcastle. They get gas or maybe something to eat, but the traffic doesn’t come downtown,” Taylor said. “This would be a way to bring the traffic downtown.” 
One downfall, according to Taylor, would be the increased traffic on roads that are “barely alive.” This is the reason he suggested allowing truck traffic, locals and anyone with a heavier load, including campers, to continue to use the bypass while detouring other through traffic. 
“I’m not going to lie to you. WYDOT doesn’t want to do it because of this or that, but there are ways to make it possible and all you have to do is try,” he said. 
With no downsides, in his opinion, Taylor said hoped the council would give his idea a try. 
“Just by taking a chance, we may see a big increase and bring more business and businesses to downtown,” he said. “It can help local businesses at little expense.” 
Beyond weekends and holidays, Taylor suggested, the council might consider detouring traffic away from the bypass for the summer months and someday making the bypass a toll road. 
“My long-term goal for that road, honestly, would be to turn the bypass into a toll road. It has been done for revenue (in other places such as Indiana and Ohio) and is easy to maintain electronically,” he said. “The only thing we would have to do long term is the city would have to maintain that road.” 
The revenue, according to Taylor, could be significant with roughly 600,000 cars using the bypass over the year. 
While the council provided little opinion, Councilman Don Steveson raised concerns with railroad traffic and potential issues with the tracks crossing Main Street. Taylor reported that after visiting with Burlington Northern-Santa Fe, he learned that the tracks are not blocked for extended periods over the weekend or on holidays, potentially eliminating Steveson’s concern. 
“What is the worst that can happen? People have to stop for six or seven minutes and they look around and see things to do,” Taylor said. 
Mayor Pam Gualtieri said that WYDOT engineer Scott Taylor had contacted her after hearing from Don Taylor about possibly closing the bypass to out-of-town traffic. She said he sounded positive about the city giving it a try, although he had concerns.  
In a later conversation with the News Letter Journal, Scott Taylor (no relation to Don Taylor) said that while the department would not be thrilled about the idea of detouring traffic from the bypass, WYDOT would consider the request if the city made one. 
“WYDOT’s stance on it, straight and simple, is if the city wants to pursue it, we will take it under consideration,” Scott Taylor said. 
Consideration, he said, would include taking the request through the department’s executive staff and the Federal Highway Commission. He noted that statutorily there is no authority to close or detour a U.S. highway and that normally the department would avoid any situation like this on U.S. routes or bypasses because of truck traffic.