Summer paving operations to begin, motorists advised to slow down and move ove

Wyoming Department of Transportation maintenance crews will begin paving operations on various roads throughout northeast Wyoming next week. Operations will begin in and around the Sundance area on Monday, May 18.

This particular paving operation is meant to repair existing roadways that may have been damaged due to snow removal, winter frost heaving, excessive ruts and cracking. The average life span of the top few inches of a paved highway is ten to 15 years and dependent on the type and volume of traffic.

Each year, area maintenance supervisors, their foreman and district administrators meet to determine which roadways will be paved. They look at the data, drive the road and look at the surface condition with a critical eye to determine which ones need paved.

One of the key determinants is whether or not the roadway condition provides safe travel for motorists.

Summer paving operations are a critical component to fulfilling the mission of WYDOT “to provide a safe and effective transportation system,” says Doug McLean, maintenance tech. “WYDOT District Four maintenance dedicates about 18,000 hours each summer maintaining roadway surface conditions in our district.”

This summer over 22 miles and 60 locations will be paved utilizing 34,000 thousand tons of hot mix asphalt.

In order to complete a paving operation, crews need to close travel lanes, set up detours and employ flagging operations redirecting traffic out of the work lane as its being completed. These road sections could be a few hundred feet or up to a mile long.

It is important for motorists to slow down and move over when they encounter any maintenance, construction and utilities workers and vehicles when traveling on Wyoming’s interstates and highways; in fact, it is a Wyoming state law.

As a reminder, the Move Over law requires motorists to move over or slow down when encountering an emergency vehicle that has pulled over.

When a construction, maintenance or utility vehicle is stopped on a road with two or more lanes in the same direction, motorists must move to the farthest lane away from the stopped vehicle. On a two-lane road where speeds are 45 mph or greater, motorists must slow down to 20 mph below the posted speed limit.

Motorists can be fined $235 for failure to move over.