AASHTO Journal, 3 October 2014
The Wyoming Department of Transportation has finished a dozen pavement upgrades on 89 miles of highway surface, tapping part of about $46 million it received from the first full year of a 2013 increase in gasoline and diesel taxes.
WYDOT said another seven projects are under way, including one to upgrade a bridge, and it plans to launch 47 over the next three fiscal years.
The state legislature voted in February 2013 to hike motor fuel taxes 10 cents a gallon for infrastructure improvements, to 24 cents, effective that July 1. WYDOT said the $46 million it received compared with a projected $47.5 million it initially estimated to receive in the first year.
The tax change brought in $69 million in all, with the other $23 million going to cities and counties.
“The increase in the fuel tax was dedicated to be used on non-interstate highways,” said WYDOT Director John Cox. “We’ve been able to do a number of quick-hitting projects that will preserve the life of the existing pavement, consistent with our pavement preservation program. So it will allow us to go further in between restoration projects off of the interstate system.”
Maps and lists of the completed and planned projects can be found on the WYDOT website at www.dot.state.wy.us.
Cox said the agency will undertake 15-20 more such projects in each of the next three years “for prolonging the life of the pavement in ways that will be visible and will improve the driving conditions on the highways.”
These projects in the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) are ones for which the need had previously been identified, but WYDOT said they had to be delayed because of funding constraints.
“The revenues that are generated by the increase in the fuel tax were greatly needed by the department for construction projects,” Cox said, “We’ve been able to demonstrate already in 2014, on the ground and in ways that drivers will be able to see and feel as they drive on highways, that we’re putting those funds to good use quickly.”