3 minute read
Teton Pass arrestor tested
by WYDOT
Paving begins on WYO 120 settlement repair project north of Cody
Working is continuing on a $3.99 million highway settlement repair project north of Cody on WYO 120. Paving started July 12.
Paving consists of 1 inch of asphalt pavement leveling, 2 inches of asphalt overlay, and chip sealing.
Riverside Contracting, Inc. of Billings, Montana, is the prime contractor.
The project is located on WYO 120 from milepost 115 (about 1.5 miles south of the intersection of WYO 120 and WYO 296 (Chief Joseph Scenic Highway) to milepost 118.5 (the south end of Chapman Bench).
Project work includes reconstruction of 3 settlement areas along WYO 120.
Contract completion date is Oct. 31, 2021.
Trooper injured, suspect killed when gunfire exchanged at traffic stop
LANDER – A Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper and suspect were seriously injured during a traffic stop on June 26.
The incident occurred on Sinks Canyon Road in Lander. The trooper conducted a traffic stop and moments into the stop, the trooper and suspect exchanged gunfire. The trooper was injured and the suspect was declared deceased at the scene.
The details of the investigation are still emerging. The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation is conducting the investigation as the standard operating procedure for all WHP officer-involved shootings.
The trooper has been released from the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. n
Teton Pass vehicle arrestor test
By Matt Groth
Mountain driving can be challenging for vehicles carrying heavy loads. These loads and steep mountain grades can lead to deadly crashes. Simple mechanical problems or over-use of brakes can lead to out-of-control vehicles and deadly crashes. Because of this, runaway truck ramps have long been a common sight on mountain highways, but new designs featuring mechanical arrestors are becoming more common.
An innovative system employed on two Wyoming mountain passes – Wyoming Highway 22/Teton Pass in Teton County and US 16/Cloud Peak Scenic A fully-loaded WYDOT 8-yard truck used the WYO 22 vehicle Byway in Johnson County arrestor. The truck hit the arrestor ramp at a speed of 60 mph – will stop runaway vehicles without any harm to the professional performance driver who was when used in an emergency. hired for the task of “crashing.” These two CatchNet vehicle arrestor systems have been used successfully a number of times, but a 2019 incident with a pickup hauling logs on WYO 22 warranted a redesign.
“We’ve reviewed the incident with the company that manufactures the arrestor system and we came up with a series of four points to improve the system to basically upgrade and modify it to a system that can handle the different shapes of vehicles and the different sizes of vehicles that run on Teton Pass,” said District 3 Resident Engineer Bob Hammond.
To ensure the modifications were sufficient, WYDOT tested the retooled arrestor July 23 on Teton Pass by running a fully loaded plow truck into it at 60 mph.
“You know, it wasn’t jarring at all, coming to that stop from 60 miles an hour,” said Arnold Korbmacher, the performance driver who was hired for the task. “I was surprised at how smooth the stop was. So it was, I was, fine. It was not a problem.”
“We’re still evaluating this, but initial indications show that this thing worked just the way it was supposed to,” said Hammond.
WYDOT also hopes the test will reassure drivers that the system works properly and can prevent potentially deadly crashes.
“You’re talking some damage to the front end, a little bit of work, but it’s a lot better to have your truck in the shop than to have you go into the morgue,” said Hammond. n
Photo: Matt Groth
A birds eye view of the truck careening into the arrestor system on WYO 22.
Photo: Matt Groth The WYDOT truck lost some of its cargo during the test.
