Collaborative funding effort helps US 212 reconstruction resume across Beartooth Ravine in northwest Wyoming

An interagency team of state and federal agencies will use a variety of federal funding sources to begin rebuilding a nearly 1-mile segment of the Beartooth Highway (US 212) in northwest Wyoming.

The collaborative effort on 7/10s of a mile of roadway will allow completion of the 420-foot, 3-span Beartooth Ravine steel girder bridge, 20-foot-high mechanically stabilized earth retaining walls, and roadwork and landscaping to tie into the existing highway.

Project work is expected to begin this summer about 14.5 miles east of US 212’s intersection with Wyoming Highway 296.

The interagency team includes representatives of Yellowstone National Park, the Montana and Wyoming (WYDOT) departments of transportation, as well as other federal government partners, citizens and non-government groups.

“It’s a great success story in the making,” said Wyoming Transportation Commissioner Phil Schmidt of Casper. “This ‘grab bag’ of varied funding sources sponsored by WYDOT and a variety of agencies and the significant work completed to date showcases incredible effort and commitment of everyone involved to keep this highway in working order.”

Moving this US 212 project to the construction phase wasn’t simple. When WYDOT received a 2017 TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant of $16.6 million to reconstruct this 1.6-mile segment, it seemed this key bridge and highway segment of the route was going to be reconstructed. But when bids were opened in May 2019, the low bid for the total project totaled $31.2 million, much beyond the $15.9 awarded grant funds after design was completed.

By only building the bridge portion of the project, which includes construction, construction engineering and contingencies, the total price of the project was adjusted to $27 million -- $11.1 million below the adjusted bid. The low bidder on the project agreed to honor the bid through mid-December 2019 if additional funds could be committed to building the new Beartooth Ravine bridge.

Project partners went to work, and $9.3 million was appropriated from WYDOT federal funds. Remaining highway funding came from closed-out federal lands projects, which Yellowstone Park matched with $1 million of its funds.

“The goal of this project is to keep US 212, the Beartooth Highway, in acceptable condition so that it can continue to provide connectivity between the northeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park and the communities of Silver Gate, Cooke City, and Red Lodge, Mont., and Cody, Wyoming, via Wyoming Highway 296, the Chief Joseph Highway” Schmidt said.

This phase of reconstruction includes 7/10s of a mile of roadway between milepost 24.5, just west of the Clay Butte Lookout turnoff, and milepost 26.1.

WYDOT Chief Engineer Shelby Carlson said construction of Beartooth Ravine bridge will improve safety and improve wildlife connectivity. “The project will improve safety by improving alignment to lessen or eliminate dangerous curves, widen the highway across the bridge by adding shoulders, and allow under-structure crossing routes for grizzly bear and other large ungulates, including elk and moose.”

Carlson said the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, “which the Beartooth Highway traverses, is perhaps the most important wildlife corridor in the lower 48 states and key to the survival and success of many species of wildlife, including grizzly and black bear, moose, elk, mountain lion, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, mule and white-tailed deer, and others.”

WYDOT is part of the Beartooth Steering Committee, which also includes the Montana Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Yellowstone National Park, U.S. Forest Service, Wyoming and Montana Congressional staff, and other federal, state, and local officials, tourism and community development organizations, and several nongovernmental organizations. This group has been working together to address the needs of the Beartooth Highway for nearly 25 years.

Reconstruction of the seven segments of the Beartooth Highway began in the 1970s. Segment 4, where this project is located, lies entirely within the boundaries of Wyoming, though nobody claims ownership of the highway. The most recent section of rebuilt highway is within Segment 4 (mileposts 28.4 to 31.5), and the $13.8 million project was recently completed.

More information about this news release is available by contacting WYDOT public relations specialist Cody Beers at (307) 431-1803.