WYDOT seeks to lower Wapiti Valley speed

Posted 11/15/16

The highway’s speed was upped to 70 mph this year from just west of the tunnels at the Buffalo Bill Reservoir to the Shoshone National Forest boundary.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation’s plan is to now drop the speed limit back to 65 …

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WYDOT seeks to lower Wapiti Valley speed

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Transportation officials are proposing to drop the speed limit through the Wapiti Valley, with a goal of fewer dead ungulates and fewer broken bodies and vehicles on U.S. Highway 14/16/20 west of Cody.

The highway’s speed was upped to 70 mph this year from just west of the tunnels at the Buffalo Bill Reservoir to the Shoshone National Forest boundary.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation’s plan is to now drop the speed limit back to 65 mph during the day and to 55 mph at night; the aim is to decrease animal collisions — mostly with deer — and thus increase motorist safety. The speed limit around the Wapiti school would remain 45 mph.

“We’re moving toward implementing this, depending on public comment,” said Cody Beers, WYDOT public relations specialist.

Around 73 drivers attended a meeting on the speed limit at Wapiti school on Wednesday evening. That included a bevy of Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers, a smattering of engineers and representatives with WYDOT and a mostly agreeable collection of locals.

A WYDOT study documented 148 car crashes on U.S. 14/16/20 between 2011 and 2015. Some 72 percent were the result of collisions with wildlife: 60 percent with deer and nearly 11 percent with elk. Well over half happened at dawn, dusk or dark. Most of the carcasses were removed between October and April, WYDOT says.

Of those 148 crashes, 85 percent resulted in no human injuries and there were no fatalities, said Michelle Edwards, Morrison-Maierle, Inc. engineer in Sheridan, the firm who conducted the recent U.S. 14/16/20 study examining its traffic and collisions.

A WYDOT survey of 53 people in August and September found 70 percent of respondents were concerned about wildlife and nearly 30 percent believed the speed limit should be less than 65 mph.

Beers received six more comments when the meeting concluded. Four favored reducing the speed, he said.

Audience angst

The study made erroneous conclusions, said Jeff Poffenbarger, a Wapiti area resident. He said a national 55 mph speed limit never improved driver safety or gas mileage.

The 70 mph speed limit was posted in 2016, Poffenbarger noted. Conclusions can’t be based on less than one year of data, he argued, saying that 70 mph has not increased the number of automobile-wildlife collisions, at least not this year.

With a posted nighttime speed of 55, more motorists will pass vehicles obeying the speed limit, Poffenbarger said.

“Are we now going to criminalize my highway?” he asked. “Make it 65, day and night.”

If all motorists maintained the same speed, there would be less passing, said Randy Merritt, WYDOT traffic engineer.

Richard Jones, who lives near the forest boundary, said motorists with years of driving under their belts forget how complicated driving really is. Those overconfident drivers are processing information racing at their windshield at the same speed as nervous novice drivers following their first over-the-road driver’s test, he said.

Cocksure operators in four-wheel-drive vehicles go too fast for conditions and fail to realize the amount of time required to stop on icy roads, Jones said, adding that they also drive too fast at night and follow too closely.

Cruising at 55 affords the driver time to slow when wildlife suddenly appear in the roadway, Jones said. “It’s the smart thing to do.”

Driving 55 mph with relatively new headlights will improve drivers’ reaction time, said Lt. Phil Farman of the Wyoming Highway Patrol. At 70 mph a vehicle is traveling 100 feet per second. At 55, it’s 70 feet per second.

Crash-prone highway

In March 2016, the Wyoming Legislature passed a bill increasing the speed limit from 65 to 70 mph on non-interstate highways. That included U.S. Highway 14/16/20.

Data collected before the increase indicated that the highway — which is the only road to Yellowstone National Park’s East Gate and a part of the U.S. Bicycle Route System — had more crashes than similar types of highways around the state, according to the study. When a 65 mph highway increases by 5 mph, Edwards said data indicates that fatal crashes will climb by 1.41 percent.

The study suggested that a 60 mph limit would be more appropriate around the Wapiti Post Office, due to a curve and trees that limit visibility, Edwards said.

The study also indicated drivers are not slowing down despite flashing lights near Wapiti school. Commuters are the culprits, speeding through Wapiti in the morning en route to work and the afternoon heading home, Farman said.

“How are we going to get people to drive 55?” Beers asked. “They are there to enforce the speed limit,” he said, indicating troopers standing in back.

The 55 mph limit would be enforced from one half-hour before sunset to one half-hour before sunrise, Farman said.

Penny Preston, a reporter for KULR-TV in Billings, said it is toughest to detect animals at dusk and dawn.

The change would make everything from Cody to Yellowstone’s East Gate a “superintendent’s zone,” which can mean higher penalties, Farman said.

Moving forward

Merritt said Monday that WYDOT is already in the process of making the new speed limit signs. They’ll be erected by the end of November or the first of December, directing motorists to observe the new posted speeds, Merritt said. “The whole idea is to get people to slow down and save some wildlife,” he said.

Motorists en route to the meeting at Wapiti last week no doubt noted 200-300 deer grazing along the sides of the highway or strolling across said highway.

“Do me one favor when you go home tonight,” Beers said. “Don’t hit a deer. We want to do the right thing and we need your help.”

WYDOT will accept comments until Nov. 23, Beers said. Email comments to cody.beers@wyo.gov.

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