County roads need some work

by Cindy Glasson

In 2014, the Hot Springs County Commissioners, in conjunction with the Wyoming County Commissioners Association, Wyoming Department of Transportation and the State Transportation Innovation Council, authorized a study of county roads across the state.

The results of the study have been recently released and our county roads in Wyoming are in pretty poor shape.

Hot Springs County has 32 segments of paved county roads totaling 77 miles. We have just three percent of the county roads in the state.

One of the issues the study looked at was rutting.

When the study began in 2014, 78% of the roads in the county had rutting of less than three-tenths of an inch. By 2015, that number had dropped down to 63%.

However, in 2014, 22% of the road surfaces were rutted more than three-tenths of an inch but rose to 37% in 2015.

Compared to the rest of the state, we’re just about in line with the three-tenths or less, but the deep rutting, three-tenths of an inch or more, we are way above the state average of just 9%.

Asphalt thickness is an issue across the state, too.

Locally, the thinnest asphalt overlay can be found on Sand Draw with just 1.2 inches. Sunnyside Lane has the thickest asphalt at eight inches.

The asphalt of course goes over the top of the base layer. Lane 12 has just 3.2 inches of base compared to Owl Creek Hill Road’s (old Cody Highway) 12.8 inches.

With all of this in mind, the study proclaimed 100% of Hot Springs County’s roads are in poor condition.

Road and Bridge director Dave Schlager said the county is “in Band-Aid mode, holding things together as best we can with what we have.”

Schlager indicated chip sealing has been one of the things they’ve been doing to keep the roads in serviceable condition.

“Most of our roads are serviceable,” he said. “Some need some work, but chip sealing and overlays are the best right now.

“Money is the biggest issue we have. Its tough to throw money at any one spot.”

Road and bridge overlaid about 20 miles of county roads about six years ago and are currently in a study with WYDOT to see what can be done about the condition of Black Mountain Road.

Schlager said the state’s study used a special machine that allows them to drive over all the roads in the state and take photos of cracking, roughness and rutting. It also uses some type of ground penetrating radar to determine the base layer. When it comes to our roads, though, the machine had to make a guess.

“We don’t know what a lot of our roads are made of,” Schlager said. “Our roads are so old we’re not sure what’s actually under there.”

All is not lost, however.

The study creates a database of roads across the state and allows the counties to have solid information regarding their road conditions in order to seek funding. With the current financial cutbacks on the state level, its not going to be a quick fix.