WYDOT takes feedback on I-90 interchange environmental study - KOTA Territory News

WYDOT takes feedback on I-90 interchange environmental study

A KOTA Territory road project that's been on some people's minds for more than a decade takes a step forward.

But it'll still be a few years before shovels hit dirt.
 
The Wyoming Department of Transportation earlier this week revealed an environmental impact study for the preferred plan for moving the Interstate 90/Main Street interchange in Sheridan.

That plan would move the interchange northwest of its current location.

Wydot representative Ronda Holwell said it will be expensive to move it, but cheaper than bringing the existing interchange up to federal codes.
 
"In order for us to use federal money," Holwell said, "we have to bring it up to their current design standards. We can't just, you know, throw something together and expect the federal highway to sign off on it."
 
Bringing it up to those standards would involve building new bridges to accommodate the railroad and creek, she said.

Some in the community oppose moving the interchange at all, but Holwell said the road was built more than half a century ago, and it's simply not safe for modern travel.
 
"It may have been a 55-mile-an-hour highway" when it was built, she said, "and it wasn't that big of a deal. Now it's a 75-mile-an-hour highway with the turn. And basically, the cars have changed, but the road didn't."
 
WYDOT is taking comments on the plan and the environmental assessment.

Design work won't be finished for at least three to five years.