Vote Wes Gardner for Teton County Commissioner
Traffic & Transit Deep Dive
Two summers ago, on a rare rush hour commute to the West Bank, I was disgusted by my reality. With thoughts of melting Teton glaciers taunting me, I sat in my vehicle, crawling toward my destination, lamenting the tragedy in which I was playing a part.
If I’m elected as your next County Commissioner, I will seek to offer meaningful transit alternatives for our residents and visitors alike. Like housing, no single tool will solve our transportation issues, but with leadership dedicated to developing real transit solutions, I envision a network with reduced congestion, pollution, and wildlife collisions.
Start Bus
Any real solution to our transit issues begins with START. Our current routing and scheduling are inadequate. As a member of the START Board (again, any views posited here are mine and do not reflect those of the board), I continue to work with staff to develop route plans and schedules which are built around the needs of workers.
Currently, 8000 commuters a day drive up the canyon or over Teton Pass. We capture only about 200 daily commuters in our buses. Since my first START Board meeting, in order to increase commuting ridership, I have advocated for the deployment of employer-funded passes, which are now available. This new mechanism for purchasing passes should generate meaningful behavior shifts, as commuters who work at participating businesses and organizations will now have free access to the buses. Through building relationships with local employers, we can grow our ridership and service dramatically, while also bringing in significant revenue.
Roads
Little in Teton County creates as much neighborly disagreement as the suggestion to add a new road or lane. Currently, a number of opportunities exist in to increase the efficiency and redundancy of our road network in the valley.
The purpose of a Tribal Trail Connector is to provide redundancy of access for emergency vehicles and to reduce congestion at the Y-intersection and on WY22. The construction of this road is long overdue, and it is time for our elected leaders to make a decision. There is no point in spending more critical funds on planning, as folks on either side will be frustrated no matter what we decide.
This half-mile of road will generate redundancy that is important for the safety of our community. Remember the day Suburban Propane caught fire? Had the Tribal Trail Connector existed, hundreds would have escaped down that roadway.
The connector will result in a reduction in vehicle miles traveled (VMTs). Collectively, locals will save several thousands of vehicle miles traveled each day as we move between the schools and residences of West Jackson, and the West Bank and beyond.
I support the completion of the Tribal Trail Connector with a 25 MPH speed limit and speed mitigation measures. Employing these restrictions will limit traffic flow considerably.
The WY22 corridor from the Y-intersection at Albertsons to the WY390 intersection just across the Snake River is the most congested piece of highway in the state. The intersection with WY390 and the Snake River Bridge are slated for reconstruction over the next few years. Increasing capacity at the intersection will help traffic flow, but the fact remains that the entire corridor represents a choke point for traffic flowing across our valley.
I support the expansion of this stretch of highway by one restricted lane in each direction. I will continue to lobby our state legislators in Cheyenne for access to HOV/BRT (High Occupancy Vehicle/Bus Rapid Transit) restrictions. Additionally, I will work with all partners to help deploy appropriate wildlife crossings and fencing along this route.
The idea of a roadway to connect Teton Village to the Airport has been circulating for years. While it would provide direct access between these two important destinations, I believe that we remain years away from any real opportunity to develop this connector, and we may find that the obstacles are too great to ever bring this roadway to fruition. I would support very preliminary explorations with landowners as well as environmental assessments along the proposed path of this roadway.
Multimodal Options
With robust support from partners and the community, our Pathways system has grown magnificently over the past decade. What remains is to connect all the routes within the network. I will work with all partners towards a comprehensive multimodal network, with particular emphasis on deploying year round bike parking around critical bus stops.
There is a wide range of opinions when it comes to how to deal with traffic in Teton County. Some in our community have chosen to pretend that our traffic problems will go away if we just continue to ignore them. Others believe that we can simply pave our way out of our traffic problems. I fall in neither camp, instead my hopes lie in nuanced, practical, and moderate solutions.
If elected, I will work with zeal, passion, and doggedness toward better solutions for traffic in Teton County. With over 80% of our greenhouse gas emissions derived from ground transportation, I will act with urgency and in collaboration with important partners to drive our community towards a more sustainable reality. For a deeper dive into greenhouse gas emissions and their effect on climate change, please click HERE.
