Closed for the season

For the past few years, the expenditure of county resources to rescue visiting motorists stranded on seasonally closed county roads has frustrated the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC) and Carbon County Road and Bridge.

The motorists, often passing through the county when winter weather forces the closure of Interstate 80, have relied upon the unreliable direction of their map applications. Despite ample signage or warnings from locals, the end result has been the need to rescue said motorists.

During the March 15 meeting of the BOCCC, Road and Bridge Supervisor Kandis Fritz updated the commissioners on a potential Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) which may prevent that issue for at least two county roads in the southern part of the Platte Valley.

“As you know, I have worked with them in the past for County Road 401 and I’ve requested that they also put County Road 500 on there. Before we come forward with an MOU to you guys, just want to make sure that it is okay,” said Fritz. “Carbon County is requesting County Road 401 and 500 be to be shown as closed seasonally when they close (Wyoming) Highway 70. Once WYDOT closes that, they’ll be shown as closed.” 

Wyoming Highway 70 connects the Platte Valley and the Snake River Valley during the warmer months, but is closed for the season from around November of each year to the following Memorial Day. County Road 401 comes off the seasonally closed highway south of Encampment and eventually connects to County Road 500, also known as Jack Creek Road, which exits west of Saratoga.

“Should the roads close before they seasonally close Highway 70, they’ll mark it as closed to through traffic,” Fritz added.

Commissioner Byron Barkhurst commended Fritz on working with WYDOT to find solutions in regards to the county roads and the issue of stranded winter-time motorists.

“It’s been a long time coming and I appreciate you working on that. I even see that Google’s improving and now has 70’s seasonal closure. That’s an improvement,” said Barkhurst. “Mr. (Lenny) Layman has set up a meeting and we’re actually going to meet with these about Google and everybody else showing these as open. Hopefully we’ll make some progress.” 

Barkhurst went on to say a recent trip in Colorado caused him to have some empathy towards those motorists who are unfamiliar with Wyoming and Carbon County.

“To us, we sit here and we giggle and we laugh about people driving down 401 and 500 and think how dumb it is,” Barkhurst said. “But as I was going through Poudre Canyon and I see a left that looks like a highway but it isn’t the way I was supposed to go, I’m thinking ‘Okay, I can have some empathy now’ because it would be really easy for me to get lost in there not knowing the area, not knowing what it looked like and Google says ‘Yeah, go ahead and take this’.”

Commissioner John Espy his only concern about the MOU with WYDOT was how it would impact locals who needed to use the county roads. Fritz replied the roads, while being closed during Wyoming Highway 70’s seasonal closure, would still be open to local traffic. The road and bridge supervisor added motorists who ignored the warnings about road closures were typically given citations by the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Archie Roybal confirmed this, adding it also depended on the situation.

“We’re doing this to prevent tourists from getting lost but locals still have reasons and capabilities to be beyond that gate or reasons to be beyond those points and I don’t want to take that away from our locals,” said Espy. “They know the risks they’re taking when they go up there. If something does happen to them, they know who to call to come get them, not taking county resources out of pocket. We’ve got to find that balance.”

The next meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners will be at 9 a.m. on April 5 at the Carbon Building - Courthouse Annex in Rawlins.