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Encouraging transportation solutions consistent with safety, environmental, and wildlife core values.

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Quash Tribal Trail project now

Guest Shot/ By Geoff Gottlieb Dec 17, 2025
Jackson Hole News & Guide

On Sept. 15, the Wyoming Department of Transportation gave the Teton County Board of Commissioners an update on the Highway 22/Tribal Trail Connector project.
WYDOT previously had eliminated from further consideration those options that did not
involve widening Highway 22. They also eliminated the option of not building the Tribal
Trail Connector if Highway 22 is ultimately widened to five lanes.

The community has asked WYDOT to consider a phased approach, such as improving unsafe or congested intersections and employing demand management techniques before the destruction of widening Highway 22. They did not agree to this.

Our reviews of WYDOT’s analysis of the options during the screening process show that it is deeply flawed, as explained in earlier letters to the commissioners and WYDOT. We now understand that the “Purpose and Need” justifying widening 22 and building the Tribal Trail Connector is based on a projection of traffic volumes in 2050, 25 years from now. It seems to be based on a constant 3% annual growth rate for that entire time, leading to a 2050 volume traffic volume estimate that implies we are doubling our population here in the valley by then.

There was no mention of the need to address current traffic congestion, let alone any analysis showing how the project would alleviate it. Instead WYDOT has apparently replaced that argument with the need to improve safety, even though WYDOT’s own accident data show no material increase in accidents along the corridor over the past 10 years.

As WYDOT is now starting the NEPA process, they are sticking to their plan to conduct an Environmental Assessment (“EA”) instead of the lengthier, more in depth, and rigorous, Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”), stating it will decide whether to proceed with an EIS after completing the EA. I believe they intend to claim it will not be needed, in spite of the commissioners’ recent letter to WYDOT specifically asking for an EIS.

addition, it is not clear the extent to which WYDOT will need to access conservation easements that exist all along the corridor. We understand WYDOT will not be granted access, forcing the state to condemn and pay market rates for the land needed to expand WYDOT’s right of way sufficiently to make room for the widened carriageway. There is little doubt that if we want to keep the bike path along Highway 22, accessing the easements will be necessary.

Commissioner Luther Propst fortunately asked the key question of who will pay for the condemnation. WYDOT responded vaguely with a statement to the effect of “we will be there to support you,” which I believe is code for “it will be on Teton County’s dime.”

So, to recap:

1. Our community is facing the impact of WYDOT widening Highway 22 and building the Tribal Trail Connector, which will create enormous disruption and potential damage to the surrounding ecosystem and a blight on local residents’ quality of life for the several years of construction.

2. There will be no improvement to current traffic congestion due to the inevitability of induced demand.

3. The purpose and need is without merit, based on (1) an incorrect claim of the need for improved safety not supported by WYDOT’s own data — in fact, it is likely the widened highway will be more dangerous to motorists and wildlife, especially since there is no indication that WYDOT will reduce the speed limit, and (2) total reliance on a point estimate of population growth 25 years in the future, which likely has an enormous margin of error, suggesting a high probability that traffic volume will never justify this project in our or our children’s lifetimes.

4. Teton County is likely to foot the bill for condemnation, at least to maintain the pathway, which it already paid for when it was first built.

I would like to see how anyone can still justify this expensive and disruptive project, which will irreparably harm our ecosystem, the main reason anyone lives in or visits Jackson Hole. The board of commissioners should understand this and do what it can to quash this project now.

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Gag order and blank check on Tribal Trails must be rescinded

By a 4-1 vote (with Luther Propst opposed), the Teton County Board of County Commissioners has abdicated its responsibility to our community by giving responsibility for planning the proposed Tribal Trails Connector to the state and federal government.

By the terms of a contract with the Wyoming Department of Transportation the board approved on March 21, “Teton County will give up sole decision-making authority on the project and will serve instead in an advisory capacity to WYDOT and FHWA through staff of Teton County Public Works.”

The decision on whether to build this county road will no longer be made by Teton County.

The last time a major highway project was proposed, the South Highway 89 expansion from South Park to Hoback Junction, our county staff and commissioners engaged. The Republicans and Democrats on the commission unanimously put forward a professionally drawn alternative for three lanes with turn lanes, rather than the five lanes we now have. Their alternative was less expensive, a narrower barrier for wildlife and less intrusive on the southern entrance to this special valley.

WYDOT refused to even consider the county alternative in its project evaluations. Today’s commissioners know that the state of Wyoming and WYDOT often do not consider local impacts. For example, they have failed to protect us from illegal and dangerous trucks on state Highway 22 over Teton Pass. It is just a matter of time before someone is killed.

The connector would require condemning private property — almost certainly requiring lawsuits. It is particularly difficult to condemn land where there is a conservation easement, which would be required.

According to the contract, the county must take on condemnation proceedings on private land as dictated by WYDOT’s decisions. According to this contract, the county must also commit to WYDOT’s preferred alternative and build the new highway or reimburse it at federal rates and overhead for all planning expenses.

At a minimum, land condemnation issues need to be resolved before writing WYDOT a blank check for planning costs.

Of great concern is the contract’s Section 7.S: “Any publicity given to the project or services provided herein including but not limited to notices, information, pamphlets, press releases, research reports, signs and similar public notices in whatever form, prepared by or for the county, shall identify WYDOT as the sponsoring agency and shall not be released without prior written approval from WYDOT.”

The commissioners have given up their ability to communicate on this project with their constituents, the people who elected them, unless they get WYDOT’s written permission. Essentially, the board has agreed to a gag order.

This contract is a terrible precedent for the decisions now being considered for expanding Highway 22. Will the county give up decision-making on this project as well? When Highway 22 expansion came up 20 years ago, county residents said no to WYDOT’s plan. We know improvements are needed, but why surrender decision-making to the state this early in the process?

This contract also makes it harder for the county to advocate for context sensitive solutions, such as design speed, traffic calming measures, vegetative strips or boulevards, in line with the community character provisions in our comprehensive plan.

Whether or not you think the Tribal Trail Connector is a good idea, turning over this much power to WYDOT at this time makes no sense. The county needs a fair local process for making this decision. The Board of County Commissioners needs to revisit this one-sided, potentially costly contract and rescind its approval.

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Tribal connector ruse

Letter to the Editor, Jackson Hole News & Guide, April 4, 2018

In an absurd case of putting the cart a (half) mile ahead of the horse, and in conflict with the comprehensive plan’s goal of “preserving and protecting the valley’s ecosystem,” Teton County commissioners have wasted their time and our tax dollars developing an memorandum of understanding with the Wyoming Department of Transportation to design and construct a Tribal Trails connector road. This half-mile, two-lane stretch of road connecting 2244 South Park Loop to Highway 22 would cost just over $6.8 million.

We at the Responsible Growth Coalition remain mystified by the commissioners’ continued breach of their fiduciary obligations to the county’s tax-paying residents.

The memorandum implies a high likelihood that the proposed connector will be approved. It ignores the commissioners’ prior promise to first complete the Cambridge Systematics traffic study, share its results with the public and proceed with Tribal Trails if — and only if — those results demonstrate compelling traffic benefits, particularly at the “Y,” and no viable alternatives to building the new road are available.

WYDOT’s recent upgrade of the “Y” has virtually eliminated its congestion. Induced demand generated by Tribal Trails’ added capacity would quickly offset its immediate benefit and restore the current equilibrium level of traffic, defeating the objective of “alleviating congestion.” In fact, there would be a permanent increase in car volume on our roads, whose contribution to air and noise pollution will come at great cost to the comprehensive plan’s mission.

It is also apparent that the project, were it justified, should not be single-sourced to WYDOT, but rather subject to a competitive bidding process, to obtain valuable information on road construction costs and identify more qualified contractors. Indeed, according to County Engineer Sean O’Malley, a single-source arrangement is unprecedented. More concerning is that WYDOT, by its own admission, has no experience building local county roads. This is demonstrated in its price quote, which is almost double what it was last year when Tribal Trails was proposed as a specific purpose excise tax initiative and over four times the cost cited in public sources. Here is a link to such a source: TinyURL.com/timsylvester.

The issues raised above justify voting against the approval of the memorandum on April 10. The traffic study must be completed first, and if its results justify building the connector, then a competitive request-for-proposals process should be undertaken, soliciting no less than three qualified road contractors (in addition to WYDOT).

Otherwise, the only plausible explanation for insisting on this memorandum (and Tribal Trails in general) now is certain commissioners’ pro-growth agenda and their desire for a development corridor in South Park.

Geoff Gottlieb
Jackson