The Wyoming State Shooting Complex Joint Powers Board is anxious to have a groundbreaking ceremony for the new complex south of Cody, but first people need to be able to get to the property without needing a four-wheel drive. 

Work to accomplish that goal is now underway, as the Park County last week received final approval to build a gravel road to replace the dirt trail leading to the more than 2,000 acres of state land of the complex site. 

“So just know that there will be dirt turning this fall of 2025 we will be doing some construction,” board member James Klessens said at a recent meeting. “I didn’t think we needed to do a big groundbreaking, but people will be out there noticing. When you build a new road, people pay attention to that.”

Park County Engineer Brian Edwards told the Tribune last week the Bureau of Land Management approved and signed right of way authorization and a temporary use permit for construction of the new county road. 

Approval generally comes after a comprehensive Environmental Assessment with Finding of No Significant Impact, cultural resources review, and input from multiple state and federal agencies and stakeholders. 

“Securing approval from the BLM represents a significant milestone reached in the process,” Edwards said. 

The county has also received its large construction site general storm water permit from the Water Division of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. 

“Local and state representatives and officials from the BLM, Wyoming WDEQ, and Wyoming Game & Fish Department, and others have been very helpful in working closely with the county, State Shooting Complex Joint Powers Board, and other project stakeholders in guiding us through the process and getting to this point,” Edwards said in an email. 

The county even has approval from a nearby site to purchase materials to build the road, which will lead to cost savings for a project the county commissioners agreed to undertake at county expense as a way to support the complex. 

Klessens said it will also lead to savings for the complex when it builds its internal roads once the county
road is completed. 

The county road will also be regularly maintained and upgraded as the many other miles of roads are. 

Commissioners agreed in May of 2024 to provide up to $750,000 of in-kind work to build a road out to where the complex site will be south of Cody off Wyo. Highway 120S. 

Edwards said over the next few weeks, work will begin to establish storm water best management practices, temporary erosion control and topsoil stripping. 

“There is a substantial amount of earthwork requiring cutting, filling, grading, and shaping on the west end of the road alignment nearest to the state land,” he said. “This work will progress over the next month or so and represents roughly 0.5 miles of the roughly 2.7-mile road corridor. Once the rough grading is complete, shaping/preparation of the roadway, drainage ditches, and installation of culverts can proceed along the entire route. 

“The goal is to have the road substantially complete and in place by the end of the year so that construction can proceed on the State Shooting Complex facility.”