CHEYENNE — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg had his bags packed to visit Cheyenne in March to share updates on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Those plans were nixed, though, when he received a call that the Francis Scott Key Bridge had collapsed in Baltimore the night before he was due to arrive in the Cowboy State.

Keeping good on his promise to visit Cheyenne, and in the wake of a landslide that destroyed a portion of the Teton Pass highway in western Wyoming, Buttigieg made an appearance in Wyoming’s capital city on Monday.

He held a press conference with a group of elected officials, construction workers and media representatives near the intersection of U.S. Highway 30 and Polk Avenue, with the backdrop of road construction and a new pedestrian underpass as part of the Cheyenne Greenway. Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, Wyoming Department of Transportation Director Darin Westby and Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins also spoke at the event.

Buttigieg, a Democrat, expressed of the importance of working across the aisle to find bipartisan solutions that support the modernization and safety of transportation across the country.

“There’s no such thing as a Republican bridge or Democratic potholes,” he said. “Transportation is about getting people to where they need to be, whether it’s at our offices in Washington, D.C., or out here in Wyoming.”

He said 40,000 lives are lost on American roadways every year, which is equivalent to losing a Boeing 737 full of passengers every single day for a year. Buttigieg said safety must remain a top priority as Wyoming continues to invest $1.4 billion in federal funds in transportation projects, including $15 million toward the Highway 30 project.

20240617-NEWS-Buttigieg-Visit-01-ms.jpg

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon speaks during a press conference Monday at the pedestrian underpass project on U.S. Highway 30 near Whitney Road. Gordon was joined by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, left, WYDOT Director Darin Westby, center, and Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins. The officials discussed the Wyoming Highway 22 landslide near Jackson and highlighted infrastructure investments in Wyoming.

“We wouldn’t tolerate that in our aviation system, and we shouldn’t tolerate it on our roadways. It is a crisis,” Buttigieg said. “And it’s a crisis that disproportionately impacts certain kinds of communities, among them rural communities. Too many people in Laramie County can tell a story of someone they know or love who suffered a serious injury or lost their life after a tragic crash on U.S. 30.”

WYDOT has a plethora of needs and projects on its to-do list, but only limited resources. Sometimes, existing roadways are only repaired, when they may require more thorough improvements and upgrades. For Buttigieg, that’s where the IIJA comes in.

Of the approximately $20 million U.S. 30 project, $15 million is coming from federal funds as a result of President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Package, or the IIJA, which Congress passed in 2021, making $1.2 trillion available for transportation and infrastructure spending, with $550 billion of that going toward “new” investments and programs. On U.S. 30, WYDOT also contributed $2.2 million, and the city of Cheyenne ponied up $2.6 million.

Updates in this project include several safety improvements; adding turn lanes and medians; slowing down speeds in certain high-crash sections; adding traffic lights, including at intersections responsible for tragic collisions; and building a new pedestrian underpass that won’t be susceptible to flooding.

“Community members brought good ideas forward. Local, state and federal governments partnered to turn those ideas into action,” Buttigieg said. “And it’s especially important to point out these results because that hadn’t been happening for too much of my lifetime. But now I’m proud to say that we’ve got over 50,000 projects and counting of all sizes taking place in every part of the United States, and a lot of it’s coming to Wyoming.”

Buttigieg commended Westby and WYDOT for their work in securing discretionary grants, which are more competitive than receiving the formula grants allocated by Congress. He said the most important thing that helps a project receive funds through the USDOT’s competitive process is showing how it can benefit Americans. He cited Wyoming’s innovative ideas around wildlife crossings, which addresses both conservation and safety concerns.

Collins expressed his gratitude for the collaboration between federal, state and city entities to make the U.S. 30 project possible. He said it can be difficult to navigate the challenges of expanding and growing the transportation infrastructure of a city, particularly when there are existing interstate and rail corridors.

“Without the millions of federal funds, these projects would not be happening today,” Collins said. “And I frankly don’t believe that would happen for years to come. We wouldn’t have the ability to have a budget this size.”

Teton Pass landslide

Teton Pass after road collapse, June 12.

In Teton County, the recent collapse of a portion of Wyoming Highway 22, known as Teton Pass, has caused many commuters from the Teton Valley in Idaho to Jackson to find alternate routes, sometimes making commutes 90 minutes longer each way. Many of these commuters cannot afford to live in Jackson, where home prices are the highest in the state, but work there to afford a home somewhere else.

Buttigieg couldn’t provide a number for how much federal funding will go toward supporting the redevelopment of Teton Pass, but Westby said that his department is currently working on providing the federal government with estimates.

On June 11, WYDOT officials said in a news release that they are hopeful to have a temporary detour in place within two weeks, weather permitting. They also announced a $430,000 emergency bid to Jackson-based Evans Construction.

According to a June 17 update from WYDOT of Teton County, lots of dirt was moved over the weekend at the site of the landslide, and crews are preparing to place crushed base later this week.