EVANSTON — During the winter of 2022-23, the city of Evanston often looked like a semi-truck parking lot due to the many closures of Interstate 80.

The winter weather of above-average snowfall and icy winds caused dangerous conditions, and truckers were required to stop in Evanston and go no further until weather and road conditions permitted. Officials hope a newly-awarded grant of $26.6 million will help ease winter congestion in Uinta County.

Because Evanston’s a border town, the city can be inundated with commercial vehicles and other traffic during a long duration closure of I-80. This has resulted, at times, in semi-trucks blocking all lanes on Bear River Drive, making it almost impassable for emergency vehicles. During these long closures of I-80, semi-trucks are forced to park in any empty parking lot in town, in front of businesses on Harrison Drive and, of course, in truck-stop parking lots.

Sheila Foertsch, president and CEO of the Wyoming Trucking Association said in a press release, “Truck parking continues to be one of the highest priorities for both truck drivers and motor carriers. Safe, well lit, accessible parking makes the nation’s highway system safer.”

She added that parking for semi-trucks is essential to the industry by providing a place for drivers to meet their required hours of service breaks.

In May of 2021, WYDOT scheduled a meeting with the local communities along I-80, including Evanston, to discuss potential solutions to truck congestion in communities along I-80, WYDOT Public Relations Specialist Stephanie Harsha said. The idea of providing some sort of parking was brought up and WYDOT began considering a potential path forward.

In March of 2022, WYDOT’s executive staff traveled to Evanston to meet with the Uinta County Commission to further examine potential locations and discuss how to possibly fund such a project. At this point, any sort of truck parking project had not been included in WYDOT’s State Transportation Improvement Plan.

In April of 2022, in response to the meeting with local government officials, WYDOT commissioned J-U-B Engineers to do a study to examine potential locations for truck parking. The study looked at different locations that could accommodate approximately a 200-space semi-truck parking lot.

The study results contain conceptual level design layouts for each of the locations options as well as an estimate of construction costs. WYDOT engaged the local community through a steering committee and selected multiple local stake holders to be part of the study. 

Serving on the steering committee were Sen. Wendy Schuler, Evanston Mayor Kent Williams, Uinta County Planning Director Gary Welling, Evanston Director of Engineering and Planning Dean Barker, Uinta County Commissioner Eric South, Evanston Public Works Director Gordon Robinson, WYDOT resident engineer Damon Newsome, WYDOT Freight Coordinator Ed Fritz, Evanston Police Chief Mike Vranish and J-U-B Engineers Dan Tuttle, Shawn Fetzer, Taylor Kofoed and Danika Montgomery.

WYDOT’s goal was to gather local information from the stakeholders to guide their decision-making process on feasible and viable parking lot locations that would be well received by the community.

Steering committee meetings were held in July and September of last year. An additional meeting was held on Jan. 19, after the committee had a chance to review the draft report, which was submitted to WYDOT on Dec. 23, 2022.

In June, WYDOT applied for a very competitive federal grant from the Rural Surface Transportation Program. The application contained letters of support from U.S. Sen. Cynthia M. Lummis, Gov. Mark Gordon, the Wyoming Trucking Association, Evanston Mayor Kent Williams, Uinta County Commissioner Mark Anderson and the Uinta County Senior Citizens Board.

WYDOT announced last week it had been awarded the federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. WYDOT will receive more than $26.6 million through the 2023-24 federal Rural Service Transportation Grant, which will be used to build about 365 truck parking spaces along I-80 between exits 6 and 10 near Evanston. The total cost of the project is approximately $33.3 million. With this recent grant, WYDOT has applied for and received a total of about $64.2 million in competitive federal grants in 2023.

WYDOT director Darin Westby said, “This is the third competitive federal grant in 2023 that WYDOT has been awarded and should bring the state a great sense of pride.”

Westby commended the support from the community, the governor’s office and Uinta County Senior Citizens Board, which were integral in WYDOT receiving the federal grant funds.

The Uinta County Senior Citizens board (UCSC) is the local recipient of WYDOT’s Rural Transit program funding. The Rural Public Transit Program provides state funding and federal formula grants to support development, maintenance and improvement of public transportation in rural and small urban areas.

In Wyoming the primary recipients are nonprofit organizations that offer services to the public. UCSC is responsible for the development and maintenance of rural public transportation services in the Evanston area, hence their letter of support for WYDOT.

In their letter of support for the grant, the Uinta County Senior Citizen’s board  committed to providing limited on-demand transit service to the truck parking areas, consistent with what they offer to the rest of the county, to help truck drivers reach critical services.

Barker said WYDOT did their due diligence and conducted site visits with the committee, looked at all options and communicated with all involved.

“This is like a Band-Aid on a severe wound, and we should be grateful for it,” Welling said. “The steering committee looked at many options, and this made the most sense. It is a well-thought-out plan.”

In responding to an article printed in the online Cowboy State Daily, Welling said it was a “knee jerk report” and the reporter should have talked to other people who were on the steering committee with WYDOT. In the report, freshman councilmembers Jen Hegeman and Jesse Lind complained that no one locally was involved in the decision to build the parking lot.

Mayor Williams said, “From my perspective, I was disappointed in the news article in Cowboy State Daily, but the council members quoted in it are new and not aware of the history we have had with WYDOT. I was a member on the steering committee and communicated consistently with the former director of WYDOT. I am excited about the proposed parking area for the trucks. It won’t be enough until we can get Utah involved in a solution, but it is a step in the right direction.”

South said the parking lot project will help solve a serious problem when I-80 is closed for long durations, adding that people should be grateful for the hard work of WYDOT and the committee.

“If we didn’t have these truckers, we wouldn’t have food, gas, construction materials and other products,” South said. “I did tell WYDOT they needed to include restrooms and trash receptacles in their design plan.”

Sen. Schuler said, “I am 100% excited about this parking area. The semi-trucks will not be in the middle of town and lining up on the streets. It’s a win-win for everyone.”