Our friend RoadDog alerts us to a possible threat to the Lincoln Highway in western Wyoming. An article in the Casper Star-Tribune says there’s a good chance the undrivable Lincoln Highway remnant from Green River east to Rock Springs could be revamped into a connector road. Though the two cities are just 12 miles apart, I-80 is the only paved road connecting them, forcing commuters and other locals to compete with a rising tide of trucks brought on by the region’s oil and gas boom.
According to the article, “Two of the three proposed routes would begin at Green River’s east I-80 interchange and then follow the remnants of the old Lincoln Highway—which used to run between the two cities—north of I-80. A third route would start on the city’s south side and run south of the interstate, hooking up with U.S. Highway 191…. [U]nofficial cost projections to build an approximately 12-mile-long road have been estimated at about $2 million per mile, or around $24 million total. Officials expect the project to take a decade or longer to complete.”
Most dismaying for those concerned about preserving the LH’s roadscape, local leaders hope the new road will bring housing, business, and industry. Green River officials especially say the city has been hemmed in by Castle Rock and I-80 to the north, and steep undevelopable land to the south.
UPDATE 12/31/07: “Locals will help choose route” in the Caspar Star-Tribune.
Lincoln Highway News 