West Casper Bypass Highway Set To Open

A new road for motorists to get around the west side of Casper is about to open.

The Wyoming Department Of Transportation says Wyoming State Highway 257 is scheduled to open in the early afternoon on Thursday, December 31st.

The highway is about 7 1/2 miles long and starts at Wyoming State Highway 220, at mile post 108, runs in a north-northeast direction and ends at US Highway 20-26 at the Shoshoni bypass intersection.

Jeff Goetz with WYDOT says the new highway also gives some residents who live between US Highway 20-26 and State Highway 220, a new way to get home or get into Casper.

"If you live out on the west side of town, anything south of the airport, basically you don't have a whole lot of routes into town. If you live south of 20-26 then you use that, but if you live in between there and CY and there wasn't really any good way to get around town, or if you live further out like at Gothburg Road or by the narrows or something like that, you had to come in on CY."

Goetz the most significant intersection of the new highway is at Robertson Road.

Motorists attempting to cross or turn onto the new highway from Robertson Road must stop, because they will not have the right of way at that intersection.

Stop signs have been posted.

Approximate total cost for the highway was around $36 million.

About 90 percent of the funding came from federal highway funds.

The remainder is state funds.