Governor Matt Mead announced last week that part of his budget proposal for the upcoming legislative session includes $21 million dollars for improvements to highway 59 between Douglas and Gillette.
The section of highway in question is 170 miles in length and is primarily located in Converse County. According to the 2013 Highway Safety Report, which is produced annually by the Wyoming Department of Transportation, Converse County experienced 544 traffic accidents and 3 accident related fatalities last year.
According to the Governors Policy Director Mary Kay Hill, the project was brought to Governor Mead’s attention during project proposals for the upcoming budget cycle.
“Various departments present projects to the Governor for possible funding, and the Department of Transportation came with a plan to add passing lanes to Highway 59.”
In an interview with Wyoming Public Media, Converse County Commissioners Chair Jim Willox said that the project is absolutely necessary due to increased traffic on the roadway. “You just got a lot of mixed use that travels at different speeds and what the passing lanes do is provide an opportunity for those vehicles going a little bit faster to get around those that are traveling below the speed limit.”
Hill echoed that the governor supported the measure once he saw the increased need for accessibility on Highway 59. “Governor Mead saw that traffic was up and so were wrecks, and knows that the road is used by the oil and coal industries, so he decided to improve the road for safety.”
Mead’s proposed budget and therefore the desired funding for Highway 59 will both be decided on once the legislature convenes in the spring. “The session convenes on January 13 and adjourns on March 6 so we should know somewhere within that time frame,” Hill said.
The governor’s budget recommendation was shortly followed by comments directing the Wyoming legislature to decide the role of the state rainy day fund, but Hill believes that this prompt is unrelated to the money that Mead proposes to spend on highway 59. “This is very consistent with the Governors previous actions, most of his budget recommendations are geared towards developing infrastructure.”
Hill also said that Mead has worked in the past to support state infrastructure and the proposed measure for Highway 59 is of a similar theme, “He has supported efforts to help local governments with creating infrastructure and he believes in using our states resources to develop Wyoming’s infrastructure.”
