Local officials weigh future of Diversion Dam bridge after safety-related closure

(Lander, WY) – The Fremont County Commission met with the Wind River Inter-Tribal Department of Transportation, the Midvale Irrigation District, and other local experts this week to discuss potential options for the Diversion Dam bridge, which was closed last month after being “deemed not safe.”

‘Serious deterioration’

A recent inspection by the Wyoming Department of Transportation showed “serious deterioration” on the several-span pony truss bridge, Kyle Lehto with HDR engineering explained during the discussion. 

Specifically, Lehto said, a portion of one of the bridge’s concrete support structures appears to have “sloughed off.”

“Where the support is – where those two trusses come together on that corner – that support’s just starting to deteriorate and go away,” he said. 

To fix the problem, Lehto said crews would have to “jack up the bridge and remove the top portion of that pier and then dowel and rebar and repour that whole structural piece.”

Another option, he said, is to remove the bridge structure from Diversion Dam.

Midvale Irrigation District Manager Steve Lynn called that the “sensible” route to take, given the importance of dam safety.

“We don’t want a bridge collapsing and damaging the dam,” he said. “So I think the sensible thing … would be to remove those bridge sections.”

A new crossing could then be built downstream – but Lehto said that kind of project would cost around $25 million.

Meanwhile, he said, plans are already in the works to re-open a nearby bridge that crosses the Big Wyoming Canal between Diversion Dam and Burris-Lenore Road, at a cost of roughly $5 million.

That bridge has been closed for several years, Lehto noted, and since then “there hasn’t been much access to Diversion Dam from the Burris-Lenore side of things” anyway – indicating that another option for the area would be to “save some taxpayer money” and “just not put in any structures at all.”

“(That road) has access from the other direction,” Lehto explained. “Having these structures not be in place … does increase like detours and stuff, but it’s not like it’s the only access point across the Wind River.”

Lynn agreed that local residents who live in the area have “gotten used to” the new route they’ve had to take since the canal bridge was shut down. 

Plus, he said, “that’s a lot of money for bridges” in an area that only saw about 100 cars per day before the canal crossing closed, according to his estimates.

Funding

WRITDOT Director Winslow Friday said his agency could apply for federal bridge funding to support a new design for the Diversion Dam structure, but after hearing Lehto and Lynn speak, he agreed that it might not be “worth the time and effort” given that “everyone’s OK now with the way everything’s flowing.”

Regardless, Northern Arapaho Business Council Chairman Keenan Groesbeck said he would like to apply for the federal funding – even if the resulting project proposal is never completed.

“I’d like to see us go after those funds just for the design and see where it goes,” he said. 

Commissioner Clarence Thomas supported that position, urging the Commission to “do everything we can to collaborate” with local tribal partners who “have access to a huge amount of federal money.”

“If we establish this primary move, we have the ability for them to look at more … federal funding to establish a secondary movement on this, rather than stagnate the process,” he said. “I truly believe that we should support and be behind this effort to have Winslow go ahead and do this and apply for this and run with this.” 

Friday noted that the application – which would require an agreement between the Commission and the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone Tribes – could include a request for funding to design the removal of the existing bridge on top of Diversion Dam.

If that application is successful, Commission Chair Larry Allen said WYDOT might be willing to provide some funding, too.

Lynn suggested checking in with the Bureau of Reclamation about funding details before moving forward with the federal application, though. 

“I’d hate for Winslow to spend the time and effort to go through a bunch of preliminary work trying to get this grant and then find out that we can’t co-mingle funds,” Lynn said, referring to a new federal grant program that Fremont County Road and Bridge Superintendent Billy Meeks said could help fund the replacement of public access structures on Bureau of Reclamation property.

The Bureau of Reclamation may also have access to funding that could support the removal of the existing bridge, Meeks said.

‘Communication breakdown’

Allen asked Lynn to communicate with the Bureau of Reclamation in the coming weeks, relay any information he gathers to Meeks and Friday, then schedule another meeting with the Commission at the end of the month.

In the meantime, Allen suggested Friday should begin working on the federal bridge funding application, which is due by October.

Commissioner Mike Jones pushed back on that idea, however.

“I have a hard time saying, ‘Let’s go do this,’ when I don’t have the whole picture,” Jones said. “We need to come together here and figure that out before we make a decision.”

Friday expressed some frustration at that suggestion, recalling that he and others in tribal government have spoken publicly about federal bridge funding for local projects like Diversion Dam for years, and now “we’re three months away” from the application deadline. 

“There’s a communication breakdown somewhere,” he said. “I’ve asked … to meet with you all, and for whatever reason I’ve never been put on the agenda for the previous meetings.”

NABC Co-Chair Kimberly Whiteman Harjo agreed that “we’re never asked to be at the table” for conversations about these kinds of projects in Fremont County.

As a result, she said, local officials aren’t always aware of the plans the tribal government has for certain areas. 

“We have our own plans for our own livelihoods and things that we want to do,” she said, pointing out that “Diversion Dam was bulit with Indian monies that were appropriated for our irrigation district – something that hasn’t happened.”

More recently, she continued, “the Wind River Irrigation Project that was sponsored by Barrasso … benefited only the Midvale ranchers and irrigators out there.”

“Did it benefit where we live on the other side of the hill? No, it did not,” she said. “And so now we’re going down that road again.”

Thomas echoed those comments and Friday’s, recalling that “we’ve been talking about this and we’ve been stating these things for quite a while (and) it’s always, ‘Well, we’ll meet, we’ll meet, we’ll meet,’ but then we don’t meet, or something happens where meetings don’t happen.”

He also noted that “the word ‘reclamation,’ in the in tribal minds, (has been) not a positive word for a long time” and reiterated his opinion that the commission should give Friday the go-ahead to begin the federal bridge funding application this week.

“I do believe what Winslow is asking for is necessary, and I would ask for that to happen,” Thomas said. “If we move in that direction, we can always have our meetings, (but it) at least puts Winslow in a movement to get things done. What we’re doing is we’re stagnating him if we don’t move in that direction of what he’s requesting.” 

Allen agreed, but he still felt strongly about contacting the Bureau of Reclamation before moving forward to “see if there’s any problem.”