Following another serious vehicle accident on Teton Pass Monday night, a newly formed citizen coalition of Wyoming and Idaho residents is calling on state transportation officials to act now — before someone else gets hurt.
The group, Citizens to Make Teton Pass Safer, grew out of last month's public safety meeting at the Old Wilson Schoolhouse. It is now formally requesting that both the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) and the Idaho Transportation Department impose temporary restrictions on RVs, trailers, and heavy commercial trucks traveling WY-22 over the Pass while long-term solutions are developed.
"Every professional engineer licensed in Wyoming is bound by a code of ethics whose first canon is to hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public. I grew up on this road — my mother's brakes failed on that descent when I was a boy, and we were lucky. If there is another death on Teton Pass this fall, I want to be able to say we did everything within our power to prevent it. Today I cannot say that." — Jared Smith, retired transportation engineer and coalition steering committee member
What the Coalition Is Asking For
The coalition's statement, circulated on Tuesday, August 18, requests that interim measures be in place within one week. Their proposals draw on existing precedent — a ban on RVs and vehicles towing trailers is already enforced on the Pass each winter.
Requested Temporary Measures
- Prohibit RVs and vehicles towing trailers on WY-22 over Teton Pass
- Reduce the gross vehicle weight limit from 60,000 lbs to 40,000 lbs
- Improve advance warning signage and highway advisory radio coverage
- Add a route-information pullout on each approach to the Pass
- Push restriction alerts to navigation apps used by drivers
The group noted that Wyoming law gives WYDOT the authority to set route-specific weight limits without waiting for a legislative session. Coalition members are urging officials to use that authority now.
WYDOT's Response
WYDOT Resident Engineer Bob Hammond acknowledged that the latest crash has given the agency additional reason to evaluate all available options. He said the agency has been gathering data on vehicle types using the corridor and researching what peer states and other countries do to manage safety on steep mountain roads.
"We've taken information from the public meeting; we've taken information from various sources from the public. We're looking at what other states are doing, what other countries do, for keeping people safe on the steep mountain roads. Then the process of going through all that information to determine what would be best for making our little part of the world that much safer." — Bob Hammond, WYDOT Resident Engineer
The coalition acknowledged that some decisions must be made at higher levels of government, but members stressed that the urgency of the situation demands those conversations happen now — not at the next legislative cycle.