Road closures in winter time (Cheyenne, Casper: tax, lawsuits, safe)

[jopes]

Are there many road closures during the winter time between the following cities.


Laramie to Cheyenne on I-80?

Casper to Douglas on I-25?

Douglas to Gillette on 59?

[GEORGIAINMT]

Days like today....yes, yes, and yes! Most of the time, bad weather closes Cheyenne to Laramie, but not as much the other two.

[jdavid93225]

Originally Posted by jopes

Are there many road closures during the winter time between the following cities.


Laramie to Cheyenne on I-80?

Casper to Douglas on I-25?

Douglas to Gillette on 59?

Originally Posted by GEORGIAINMT

Days like today....yes, yes, and yes! Most of the time, bad weather closes Cheyenne to Laramie, but not as much the other two.

Check out the Wydot info. Here are a couple links to help you out:

Road closure info - WYDOT Travel Information Service (Laramie)
Webcam info - WYDOT Travel Information Service (Laramie)

I just checked some of the webcams for various areas, and in most cases, saw cars or trucks on the road in the pictures. There are some listed road closures, though, so the pictures may not tell the whole story. 59 looks pretty treacherous at the moment.

[jopes]

Originally Posted by jdavid93225

Check out the Wydot info. Here are a couple links to help you out:

Road closure info - WYDOT Travel Information Service (Laramie)
Webcam info - WYDOT Travel Information Service (Laramie)

I just checked some of the webcams for various areas, and in most cases, saw cars or trucks on the road in the pictures. There are some listed road closures, though, so the pictures may not tell the whole story. 59 looks pretty treacherous at the moment.

thats quite the list of road closures for this past storm.

Is Wyoming a state that requires chains when it is snowing?

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by jopes

thats quite the list of road closures for this past storm.

Is Wyoming a state that requires chains when it is snowing?

map.wyoroad.info is a good resource for a visual on the road closures.

as you can see by this evening's postings, there's quite a bit of Wyoming that is shut down in the East and NE portions.

surprisingly ... the Lander area is also shut down to "no unecessary travel" for a large area considering they didn't get the storm frontal passage that the Eastern portion received.

Chains not required by law for travel during snow storms. Most of the time, they are not needed. If the snow drifts are that deep, the roads are closed, or the roads are plowed as best as possible ... when the winds pick up and the plows cannot keep up with the drifts across the road, the patrol will close the roads. That's not to say that there aren't times where putting chains on your vehicle isn't a prudent measure to help with your travels.

[ElkHunter]

Wyoming, like a lot of other states have become afraid of lawsuits from people getting in over their heads or beyond their vehicles capabilities.

20 years ago as a storm moved in, they first put out a "Warning, snow and blowing snow". Then as the storm progressed, they went to "No unecessary travel". Then they went to "Chains required". Then, they would close the road.

But in today's time, if a person can't travel at 75 when visibility is 50 ft and there's a foot of snow on the ground, they get upset. And when they have an accident, they blame the Wyoming Highway Patrol and they sue. Unfortunately, they win. So, like I said, Wyoming shuts them down early for a variety of reasons. Depth of snow, visibility, windy area's, etc. They take no chances.

Today, they shut down I-90 between Gillette and Sheridan. I spoke to a guy that went through about 30 minutes before they closed the gates and he said that there was two area's that he had to slow down to about 40. The rest of the stretch he run 60+ mph.

[jopes]

It's quite amazing how impatient people have become with driving places.

[NVDave]

Originally Posted by jopes

It's quite amazing how impatient people have become with driving places.

It is also epic incompetence.

Today, you can't find many drivers under the age of 50 (or older) who can competently put chains on a vehicle. You can't find many who can competently drive a vehicle with chains on it. So why bother issuing warnings to put on chains when it would just result in further opportunities for the incompetent to do something very wrong?

When driving on roads in Wyoming, I find it both amusing and infuriating how many people from places like California, Texas and Utah go down a snow-packed road at 60+ MPH into visibility of 50 feet or less. Amusing because I know a priori that I'm going to see these people again very soon -- and they won't be moving. Infuriating because the WHP and EMS people called out to clean up the mess are paid for with my tax dollars.

In the old days, when people drove like idiots, the consequence was that there were subsequently fewer idiots -- ie, the problem pretty much solved itself.

Sadly, modern automotive engineers have interfered with nature's laws of natural selection, and the rest of us have to suffer the consequences of fools, idiots and morons (and their prodigious fecundity) as a result.

[Brian_M]

RE: Lander area... I drove from Denver to Lander yesterday and the 2 worst spots were on 287 right about the CO/WY boarder where I slowed to 35~40 and put it in 4wd to help pull through the slush drifts. Otherwise I was 55~60 in the snowy areas, mostly due to the wind pushing against me. I-80 from Laramie to Rawlins was fine, though they had the season speed limit knocked down to 45. It was most likely safe to 55 in most places, I never slowed below 45. The other REALLY bad spot was Beaver Rim/Ridge (just north of Sweetwater Station), where it's Always bad. I was again in 4wd to help with the slush drifts, but down in the 25~30mph speeds due to visibility. A total white-out condition where I was happy to see past the end of my hood.


Anyway, Lander area was the way it was for drifting snow that was Very wet/slushy.

[ElkHunter]

Here's some good info on our chain laws.

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