Four proposals revealed for Black Mountain Road

GDA Engineers Director of Operations Dustin Spomer revealed four proposals for renovating and repairing Black Mountain Road to over a dozen concerned community members at Hot Springs County Annex on Nov. 5.

Spomer, who has worked closely with the county during the recently completed Hot Springs County Airport project, said of the Black Mountain Road in question, “This is a roadway corridor in failure. There is not a lot of debate when it comes to that question.”

The road, which connects with County Road 6, which in turns connects to US Highway 20, is in dire need of reconstruction. After nearly 30 years of increased usage, GDA says in its report that, “The road has deteriorated to the point that it is negatively impacting safe and efficient travel to the varied uses along and beyond the study corridor.”

The study also notes that drainage issues, a rutted and rough road surface, and sharp corners in the road create an situation in which the road’s useful life, “will sharply decline in the coming years, rendering the road unusable if no action is taken.”

To remedy the situation of what Spomer frequently referred to as a ‘road in failure,’ GDA engineers joined in discussion with a steering committee compiled of Hot Springs County and WYDOT officials, State Representative Nathan Winters, and community members involved in ranching and mineral extraction on lands that border the survey corridor.

The four proposed alternatives present a difficult choice for Hot Springs County residents; GDA engineers have suggested that higher initial cost alternatives lower future maintenance costs dramatically, which means spending more now is likely to save money in the future.

Alternative One, which will add speed limits and stop signs, repair culverts, add riprap to 15 known erosion locations, grade areas of erosion and around sinkholes to prevent damage, is the most inexpensive option proposed by GDA at $2,600,968. However, this plan will not feature direct improvements made to the roadway, which will allow the road to continue to fail and will cost an estimated $4,153,999.35 in maintenance costs over the next 20 years.

Alternative Two, which Spomer called the ‘minimal Band-aid fix,’ will make minimal improvements to the existing road. Alongside the improvements suggested in Alternative One, this plan will be a, “Very crude approach to patch and hold [the road] together for 20 years,” Spomer said. Reconstruction of 17,000 feet of roadway and stretches of new asphalt will cost the county $3,565,000 initially, but will cost a projected $2,477,652.98 to maintain over the next 20 years.

Alternative Three, which features the additional signage and drainage improvements from Alternative One, will also reclaim and repave the existing roadway. This alternative will pave over crushed aggregate base in areas that make the current road structure unsafe. Although this alternative has an initial cost of $4,740,220, which is almost twice the cost of Alternative One and just over one-third more than Alternative Two, the projected maintenance costs over twenty years drop drastically to $1,075,986.08.

Alternative Four, which Spomer called ‘full-blown’ reconstruction of the road, will still feature improvements from Alternative One, but will reconstruct the entire roadway regardless of current condition, taking reconstruction one step farther than Alternative Three. Initial cost is projected to be $5,384,220, up almost $1.8 million from Alternative Three, and maintenance costs will drop to $896,655,07 over the next twenty years, which is only down about $100,000 from Alternative Three.

Citing the combined initial and projected maintenance costs of each alternative, Spomer said, “These lead us to believe that Alternative Three, or something along those lines, would be best for Hot Springs County.” If the costs listed by GDA are accurate, Alternative Three would be the least expensive and most cost-effective strategy to repair Black Mountain Road.

However, Spomer was quick to add that, “The most difficult part of the project would be to weave this [funding for the project] together. The engineering and construction would be the easy part.”

Although there are a number of grants and loans available from both state and national sources, the amount of money Hot Springs County could receive depends directly on the amount of money the county could put forward to begin the project. Spomer noted that combining different grants and loans most effectively to lower project costs, “needs further investigation,” and that both GDA and the county, “Have a lot more to learn [about funding sources],” before the project can happen.

Spomer suggested that a consultant or someone from the Hot Springs government should, “pick through” funding sources to decide which loans and grants make the most strategic sense.

In conclusion, Spomer added that, “I think your largest challenge comes down to how you’re going to pay for it [reconstruction],” saying that the studies undertaken by GDA did not find any geographic or ecological ‘smoking guns’ that would make the actual reconstruction of the road impossible.

GDA Engineers will release its final copy of the 300-page Black Mountain Road Study at the end of the month. A physical copy will be available at the County Clerk’s office.