WY: WY370 realignment

[cl94]

Our friend Corco was doing some digging in WY highway logs and discovered that WYO 370 was formally realigned in 2017 to run from I-80 to WYO 430, using Middle Baxter Road/CR 45. The segment from Middle Baxter Road east to the airport was decommissioned in 2019.

New alignment in 2017 log (PDF page 157): http://www.dot.state.wy.us/files/live/sites/wydot/files/shared/Maintenance/Maintenance%20Section%20Reference%20Book/2017-MaintenanceSectionReferenceBook.pdf
Decommissioning in 2019 (PDF page 14): http://www.dot.state.wy.us/files/live/sites/wydot/files/shared/Administration/Transportation%20Commission/Meeting%20Minutes/2019/Sept19-%202019.pdf
Map of route: https://goo.gl/maps/b1zsMJPr7ZKLd9rg8

Corco will be out there in a couple of weeks to reclinch it, but it is pretty safe to say that 370 east of Middle Baxter Road no longer exists given the documentation we have.

[the_spui_ninja]

Yeah, I remember seeing that in the Sweetwater County GIS (and being confused by it)... I'll switch this over once the signage is confirmed. Would have done this earlier, but the StreetView in that area is really old and kind of orange and I don't have any plans to head to Rock Springs for the forseeable future to check for myself.

[cl94]

We should have an answer for this within the next few months. Definitely not a high-priority item, but it's on Corco's re-clinch list for when he next gets to Wyoming (possibly as soon as next week). Duke87 should be through the area on I-80 within the next week, so we might be able to get him to confirm sooner.

[the_spui_ninja]

Okay, I just checked StreetView again, and they updated it. As of June 2019, the only signage on the "new" stretch of WY 370 was... Sweetwater County 45. There were even WYDOT mileposts too!

There was no signage for 370 on the spur to the airport that I could see, but it was still state-maintained at that point (wide shoulders, speed limit 70).

Hopefully when someone goes through the signage has been updated.

[cl94]

Here's the conditions on the ground per Duke87:

-The new stretch is signed as CR 45, even though it is inventoried and mileposted as WY 370 and built to WYDOT standards
-The now-decommissioned section remains signed as WY 370, even though it has been fully handed over to Sweetwater County

This makes it a bit tricky. Isn't the precedent here to remove the part that we know has been decommissioned, even if it is still "signed" as a state route (if only because shields haven't been removed)? In that case, this would be a truncation to the CR 45 intersection. That may make the most sense here, given that the airport spur no longer exists on paper. Per Corco, there is no precedent for a locally-maintained state route in Wyoming- everything that is officially a route is maintained by WYDOT.

[Duke87]

Couldn't wait for me to get a chance to speak for myself eh? 

It is pretty clear that WyoDOT and Sweetwater County did a maintenance swap but haven't bothered changing any of the route signs. It is worth noting that WY 370 isn't signed terribly thoroughly to begin with - BGSes from I-80 do not make any mention of it, for one. This is as far as I could spy every sign there is.
At the west end, heading eastbound away from I-80:

At the former east end, heading westbound away from the general aviation parking lot:

And northbound on former CR 45 / the current paper WY 370 alignment:


(Former) CR 45 is signed with a single reassurance pentagon at each end.



As for the what to do on this....

This makes it a bit tricky. Isn't the precedent here to remove the part that we know has been decommissioned, even if it is still "signed" as a state route (if only because shields haven't been removed)?

Ehhh.... not really. Yes, precedent is to go ahead and truncate officially truncated routes even if signage has not caught up. But this isn't a truncation, it's a reroute. With reroutes, precedent is generally to leave it alone until signs are changed.

I do suspect the signs will be altered to match the new routing eventually, and WyoDOT just hasn't gotten around to it yet since it's not a high priority for them.

[the_spui_ninja]

(Former) CR 45 is signed with a single reassurance pentagon at each end.

Did you happen to notice the small number in the bottom corner of the pentagons? If WYDOT puts up a sign, they use small numbers in a corner of the sign to say what year it was put up. If it's 17 or higher, that means the pentagons were put up AFTER the road was officially designated as WY 370 (and adds another confusing twist - in my opinion this means WYDOT intends 370 to be signed as going to the airport regardless of what the maintenance situation is). I can see that these numbers exist on GMSV, but the resolution isn't high enough to make out what they actually are.

[Duke87]

According to my photos, the WY 370 shields are, respectively in the order pictured above, "11", "11", and "09", so all those predate the change.

The one CR 45 shield I photographed isn't quite sharp enough to tell for sure but I think it says "08". I didn't photograph the one at the south end so I can't say there.

[the_spui_ninja]

According to my photos, the WY 370 shields are, respectively in the order pictured above, "11", "11", and "09", so all those predate the change.

The one CR 45 shield I photographed isn't quite sharp enough to tell for sure but I think it says "08". I didn't photograph the one at the south end so I can't say there.

Okay, thanks. I think I'll leave the situation "as-is" for now; it sounds like Corco will be out there soon and hopefully we can get more info about the year numbers on the pentagons.

[Duke87]

Additional field report from Corco notes that both CR 45 pentagons are from "09".

Something else he points out I didn't notice: the new alignment (Middle Baxter Road) has state Adopt-A-Highway signs dated "16".


All this ties into the prior conclusion: WY 370 has officially moved, via a maintenance swap with Sweetwater County, but they haven't gotten around to changing any shields yet. Proper course of action is to note this as a long-range outlook item and wait for indication the signs have changed.

[the_spui_ninja]

Neato; I'll move this thread there then.

This can just be the subject of periodic field-checks whenever someone's in the area.

[jayhawkco]

Looks like WY370 was rerouted from going to the airport to connecting to WY430.  It is now currently unsigned along its actual route (but signed near the airport which is inaccurate).  Under the current conventions, it should be removed.

Chris

[cl94]

Looks like WY370 was rerouted from going to the airport to connecting to WY430.  It is now currently unsigned along its actual route (but signed near the airport which is inaccurate).  Under the current conventions, it should be removed.

Chris

Merged into the existing topic on the subject. We're on a "wait and see" with this route because WYDOT takes their sweet time with sign replacements. All shields in the area predate the change.

[SSOWorld]

All this ties into the prior conclusion: WY 370 has officially moved, via a maintenance swap with Sweetwater County, but they haven't gotten around to changing any shields yet. Proper course of action is to note this as a long-range outlook item and wait for indication the signs have changed.

You know that creates an artificial unsigned route situation, where most of WY 370 isn't counted as a signed route because it doesn't yet have route signs (but the part that wasn't relocated is still signed), while the HB shows part of WY 370 as a current route even though it's been decommissioned, because of error signage on the decommissioned segment? If we're going to be mapping unsigned routes, we'd need to map the relocated part of WY 370 as an unsigned route.

If we're going to think about including unsigned routes in the HB for people to claim if they want, we should as part of that process rethink how we treat routes that have been partially relocated, with an eye to reducing the number of unsigned routes.

Here we go again 🤦‍♂️

[oscar]

I went there earlier today, as a side trip from crossing Wyoming on I-80.

I can confirm that WY 370 now is signed only over Middle Baxter Rd., between I-80 and WY 430. At the junction of Middle Baxter with Airport Rd., signage has WY 370 southbound making the turn to continue on Middle Baxter, rather than going straight ahead onto Airport Rd. Similar signage on Airport Rd. at that junction, also pointing to Middle Baxter both north and south of the junction. There is no signage on Middle Baxter indicating that WY 370 includes Airport Rd., and except as noted above there is no longer any WY 370 signage on Airport Rd. (including the roads to the passenger terminal and general aviation).

South of the Middle Baxter/Airport Rd. junction. there are To I-80/WY 370 sign assemblies on eastbound WY 430 (I didn't check the other side of that intersection). More helpfully, there is a standalone WV 370 reassurance marker on northbound Middle Baxter just north of WY 430.

I saw no county route pentagon markers anywhere on Middle Baxter between I-80 and WY 430.

I photographed all of these signs, and can provide links if needed once I have processed the photos (still in my camera, might not get processed until I get back home).