Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Options mulled for fixing damaged area along bike path
An expanding crack along the Worland bike path is under examination by the Washakie County Commission, in an effort to keep the path from sinking into a nearby drainage.
WORLAND – "This is something we need to address before it gets worse," said Washakie County Commission Chairman Terry Wolf. "Some kid could get hurt out there, in the dark, and then we would have a real problem."
On Tuesday, commissioners Wolf, Aaron Anderson and Fred Frandson went to investigate a growing crack in the Worland Bicycle Path, located along Airport Road. Randy Chenoweth with the County Road and Bridge Department and David Anderson, county planner, went along to see if an engineering solution could be figured out to fix the asphalt path, slowly cracking and headed downhill a foot south of the Hanover Canal.
"We would like to find an in-house solution to fixing this," said Wolf, "before we start looking for an outside engineer or state help."
Built in 2005 with a $231,000 Transportation Enhancement Activities Local grant (TEAL) from the Wyoming Department of Transportation, the bike path has been walked, run and ridden thousands of time by residents, with only a few minor repairs needed. The country received another $190,000 for repairs and upkeep in 2008.
In 2016, the path saw a brief history of vandalism, when signs along the path were stolen. Otherwise, things have been quiet on the long stretch of walkway, until Wolf was sent photos of the crack from a regular path user.
"Holy cow, we went out there to take a look and that thing could hurt somebody," said Wolf. "You get a bike tire or your foot stuck in there and it could turn out pretty bad for somebody. Right now it's a safety hazard for bikers for sure."
Unfortunately, according to the office of the Washakie County Clerk, the state has no TEAL money to lend at the moment, making the repair of the crack strictly a local matter.
"I don't know yet what we are going to do," said Wolf, noting that the county has a right-of-way from the road to the path, but the direction the path is sliding may require some reinforcement from underneath, on private land.
"There's an engineering possibility there," said Wolf. "We'll just have to have our people take a look at it.
As of Thursday, the crack had been patched with fresh blacktop, but continued to expand.
