◆ Highway will be prepared for traffic with stipes delination poles and signage.
The Etna North Five Lane project between Etna and Alpine on U.S. Highway 89 in Star Valley is coming to close for the winter months with work scheduled to resume in the summer of 2022.
“We’re starting to do cleanup work to fix things up before winter comes,” explained Wyoming Department of Transportation Resident Engineer Darrin Robinson. “We’re cleaning up some of the approaches.”
He continued, “The seeding people are coming in this week and fencers are finishing up next week.”
Robinson noted striping, delineator posts and signage will be installed to help with traffic through the winter months. Snowplows will work on the width of the existing paved road.
No new paving will be done until next summer. “We have reached temperatures where we can no long do the FDR (Full Depth Reclamation) and pave,” Robinson explained.
“Everything from Etna to McCoy Creek is ready to go as far as the FDR portion,” he said referencing the summer of 2022. “Once we have the temperatures can start on the FDR next spring.”
In the meantime, the resident engineer said the highway will be prepared for the winter months. “As soon as we get all of the equipment in place, the delination and the signs, it will probably be going back up to 65 [mph] in the next week or so,” he said.
• Thayne North
The Wyoming Department of Transportation will continue preparing a similar five-lane project for U.S. Highway 89 between Thayne and Etna.
“For Thayne North we are still securing right-of-ways and working on the utility end,” noted Robinson. “They would like the final plans on the shelf by August of next year.
He added, “Then if we get everything secure with right-of-ways and utilities, and funding [it will be ready], but right now it is still planned for 2027.”
