October 9, 2023 |
Photo – Road Closed Sign – Bigfoot 99 file photo
Carbon County Road and Bridge is working with WYDOT to have county roads removed from GPS routes when I-80 is closed.
During last week’s Board of Carbon County Commissioners meeting, Road and Bridge Coordinator Kandis Fritz said her goal, when taking the job four years ago, was to list county roads as closed when Interstate 80 is shut down. Right now, Fritz said GPS companies only show Highways 401 and 500 closed during an I-80 closure. Fritz thanked Wyoming Department of Transportation for working with her on adding more county roads to the closure list.
Commission Chairwoman Sue Jones asked Fritz if only snow closures will cause county roads to shut down with the interstate. The road and bridge coordinator said when I-80 is closed for any reason, all the connecting county roads will also shut down.
Fritz said not everyone uses the Wyoming 511 app to check for road closures. Because of that, when I-80 shuts down, Fritz said the Sheriff’s Office will have to physically block the county roads. The road and bridge coordinator said she shared pictures of stranded motorists with WYDOT in an attempt to convince GPS companies to follow her suggestion.
In a written statement provided to Bigfoot99, WYDOT GIS Program Manager Vince Garcia said, “We are working with Carbon County (and any county that wishes to participate) to identify county roads that are not suitable for travel when a WYDOT-maintained road closes. This has become a problem because when WYDOT closes a road, the navigation companies are pushing traffic down county roads which are often not maintained, and during weather events, they may be impassable. County officials are having to do a large number of search and rescue missions and because this is a safety of life issue, we are trying to come up with a solution.”
Because of the on-the-ground reality of winter weather in southern Wyoming, WYDOT is now working with counties to identify how a county road should be reported when WYDOT closes an adjacent state highway. In his email to us, Garcia said the state highway department “will push information to the Situation Data Exchange where any third-party data provider or navigation company can pull the information and provide it to their customers.”
Fritz said the Memorandum of Understanding between the county and WYDOT specifically refers to Highways 401 and 500. The road and bridge coordinator said she is working to rewrite the MOU to allow her to include any county road.
