Crews will be installing girders for Interchange structure, detours at night

Rock Springs, Wyo. – The Wyoming Department of Transportation and contract crews from Reiman & High Country Construction will be installing girders for the new Interchange (Gookin) bridge over Interstate 80, at the new interchange and connector to Blairtown Road in Rock Springs near the Water Reclamation Facility.  

Crews will be installing girders beginning Monday night, Nov 1.  Work will take place at night, from the hours of 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.  During the nighttime work, traffic will be diverted onto a gravel detour around the bridge, with a reduction in speed to 30 mph.  The work should take approximately three nights and be completed on the morning of Nov 4.  Commuters using I-80 during these overnight hours are reminded to expect delays and plan accordingly.

WYDOT is partnering with the city of Rock Springs as well as Sweetwater County to complete the project.  The completion date for this project is set for June 30, 2023. 

The scope of the project includes replacing an existing bridge over the interstate to provide a higher vertical clearance, constructing eastbound and westbound ramps with continuous acceleration/deceleration lanes to Dewar Drive and building a new overpass structure over the Union Pacific Railroad for access to the industrial park.

WYDOT received a $14 million federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant to construct a new interchange and reconstruct and expand Interchange Road from Foothill Blvd. south to Blairtown Road. The $14 million grant WYDOT received is part of the $1.5 billion INFRA grant program, which is part of the federal Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act. Although WYDOT received $14 million, the total cost of the project is just under $30 million. 

WYDOT would like to remind drivers to slow down in work zones, be alert and cautious of roadside workers and obey all traffic control devices.   For more information on road construction, closures and weather conditions, please visit http://www.wyoroad.info.