Steve Core’s office looks out onto Flaming Gorge Way, the road through Green River that served as the detour following last week’s deadly pileup and fire in the nearby Interstate 80 tunnels.
The tunnels’ closure forced between 15,000 and 18,000 vehicles, many of them semi-trucks, onto Flaming Gorge Way each day for nearly a week, creating an enormous inconvenience for town residents.
On Thursday, the Wyoming Department of Transportation reopened the eastbound tunnel for the first time since the Feb. 14 disaster, and the change on Flaming Gorge Way was dramatic, said Core, communications administrator for the town of Green River.
“I’m looking out my window now, and I just saw one car go by,” he told WyoFile on Thursday morning.
The 26-vehicle wreck and fire killed three people and injured another 18. It also caused extensive damage to the westbound Green River Tunnel, charring the concrete lining and destroying lighting and other equipment.
The Wyoming Department of Transportation closed both the westbound and eastbound tunnels due to the crash and fire. Traffic was temporarily routed through Green River, which was no small thing given the volume of vehicles that travel daily along one of the nation’s key highways.
“When you take the eastbound and westbound traffic on I-80, and you squeeze it through Green River, that is a lot of traffic,” Core said.
The high volume did cause slowdowns, but Core said drivers were largely courteous. It also led to some new potholes, which crews were working to patch on Thursday.
Construction and repairs
Before WYDOT could route head-to-head traffic through the eastbound tunnel, crews had to place 5,000 feet of concrete barriers and install new signs to help drivers navigate the area. The agency also lowered the speed limit through the area from 65 mph to 35 mph.
Traffic was moving smoothly on Thursday morning, said WYDOT District 3 spokeswoman Stephanie Harsha. Based on past construction projects, officials expected more congestion during evening commutes.
“That’s just the nature of construction and that level of traffic count on the interstate,” she said.
The state paid about $224,000 for a contractor to install the concrete barriers and another $33,000 to set up traffic control devices. The money is paid from a state fund for emergencies, and WYDOT will seek federal reimbursement, Harsha said. There is an ongoing monitoring cost of roughly $2,000 a day so that someone can immediately address the situation if a vehicle hits or disrupts the traffic control signs, barrels or devices.
The westbound tunnel isn’t expected to reopen soon. Workers were still evaluating that tunnel to determine whether it was safe for cleanup operations to begin, Harsha explained. The ongoing evaluation includes measuring the air quality inside the structure.
Once the cleanup operation is complete, workers will perform in-depth assessments of the structure.
“Until they can get in there and look at it, we’re really not sure how long we will be running this head-to-head [traffic] through the eastbound tunnel,” she said.
WYDOT planned to have a dedicated employee focused on the tunnel and surrounding area to make sure the highway surface stays clear during storms. Still, Harsha said it was important for drivers to slow down and pay attention as they traveled through the area.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by both the Wyoming Highway Patrol and the National Transportation Safety Board, which are conducting parallel inquiries.