CHEYENNE — The leading transportation czar of President Joe Biden’s administration stressed during a visit to the capital city Monday that funding infrastructure projects in America is much more than picking political favorites and projects based on what states will support the president.
“You can’t have a one-size-fits-all approach,” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg told Cowboy State Daily. “What’s going to work in Baltimore isn’t the same as what’s going to work in Cheyenne.”
Buttigieg was in Wyoming to promote a $20 million pedestrian underpass that was recently opened in Cheyenne that was paid for with $15 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law money. As of March, $3.8 billion has been provided to Wyoming as part of the $1.2 trillion package that was passed in 2021. Wyoming’s congressional delegation voted against it.
The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Buttigieg joked that it would have been helpful if the federal money was there when he was mayor.
“We have sought to make sure that our policies and our ideas match the needs of this state,” Buttigieg said about the money for Wyoming.
He also thanked Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon for what Buttigieg saw as agreement with the governor that funding transportation projects should be nonpartisan in America. Gordon gave a short statement and then left the press conference before Buttigieg spoke.
“I want to thank the governor for reminding us the basis for that saying, ‘There’s no such thing as a Republican bridge or a Democratic pothole,’” said the secretary of transportation. “Transportation is about getting people to where they need to be.”
Red But Still Deserving
By all accounts, there is probably no state where Biden has less of a chance of finding much support than Wyoming in the upcoming presidential election. Former President Donald Trump won Wyoming by a larger margin than any other state in the 2020 election and there are few signs his support has waned since that time.
Biden, on the other hand, has been a favorite target for criticism in Wyoming for many of his environmental policies that are seen by many as harmful to the state’s energy industry.
Gordon said it’s always a positive for politicians based in Washington, D.C., come to Wyoming to see how different the Cowboy State is from other places.
“So they can see how unique it is to be in a rural area with the kinds of challenges that we have that don’t necessarily meet the same formulaic kind of scriptures that we see out of Washington, D.C.,” he said.
Visiting places in rural America like Wyoming, Buttigieg agreed is very helpful for him and his staff to understand the challenges being dealt with on the ground.
Buttigieg was supposed to come to Wyoming in March, but his visit was delayed when a bridge collapsed in Baltimore the same day.
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Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon, WYDOT Director Darin Westby, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins at President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda Event with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg in Cheyenne, Wyoming on June 17, 2024. (Matt Idler for Cowboy State Daily)
What About Teton Pass?
The recent collapse of Highway 22 over Teton Pass in Teton County has some calling for mitigating road issues before they cause harm rather than waiting to do work after the fact. Buttigieg said this is what the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is all about, and cited the quick turnaround underway for rebuilding the bridge in Baltimore as a key example.
“Some of the projects that WYDOT (Wyoming Department of Transportation) is going to be proposing to us in the future have to do with increasing the resilience of building infrastructure in the state,” Buttigieg told Cowboy State Daily.
One challenge he noted, however, is that there are so many transportation projects long overdue for renovation that it makes it difficult to get ahead of problems.
The Underpass
Buttigieg highlighted the increased safety provided by the underpass project, which travels under the Lincoln Highway in east Cheyenne, as an example of the benefits that the Infrastructure Law can bring to rural communities in Wyoming. The tunnel will provide pedestrians and bikers easy access to cross one of the busier roads in Cheyenne.
“It’s going to prove the capacity for housing and community development in Cheyenne while still making sure that it’s safe and connected to the rest of the city,” Buttigieg said.
Wildlife crossings have been a successful effort as well in Wyoming, passages built over and under roads to allow animals to cross without the risk of being hit by vehicles. These modes of transportation not only increase safety for the animals but also the people traveling in vehicles when hitting wildlife.
Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins said underpass projects are sorely needed in Cheyenne, where over-the-road structures can often result in icy and hazardous conditions due to their exposure to the elements. The city paid $2.6 million for the underpass while the Wyoming Department of Transportation chipped in $2.2 million.
The underpass is located in a part of Cheyenne that has been growing by leaps and bounds. The construction, which started in February and is mostly completed, also expanded the road from two to four and sometimes five passing lanes, light signals and general lighting.
“All this will make this area a lot more safe and effective to the people that are living in this area getting back down into the community,” WYDOT Director Darin Westby said.
The danger isn’t limited to Cheyenne, as Buttigieg said about 40,000 people die a year on American roads.
“We wouldn’t tolerate that in our aviation system, and we shouldn’t tolerate it on our roadways either,” he said. “It’s a crisis, and it’s a crisis that disproportionately impacts certain kinds of communities, among them, rural communities.”
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.