DOUGLAS - It's almost too far in the future to contemplate.

But city leaders recently had to push back local plans tied in with a major Wyoming Department of Transportation project to 2017 or later, following the financially strained state agency's delay of numerous projects statewide.

"It makes us very frustrated," Douglas City Administrator Bobbe Fitzhugh said. "It makes it very difficult to implement our own improvements. They sit on the shelves."

WYDOT has planned to widen and reconstruct four major streets through Douglas which are technically part of the state highway system.

Preparing for WYDOT's changes, the city pulled together an advisory council for improving downtown and held meetings to discuss ways to replace old trees along Fourth Street, Fitzhugh said. Businesses along East Richards were advised 25 years ago not to landscape areas that would be torn up for the future widening project, now slated for 2017.

Water and sewer lines beneath Fourth Street need to be replaced within a few years, a task which the city hoped to manage in conjunction with WYDOT's work. And, a brittle water line beneath Center Street has burst several times in the past few years, indicating more needed repairs.

"We understand the highway construction costs are taking a pot of money that isn't able to go as far any more," Fitzhugh said. Still, the longer the city holds off on infrastructure projects, the more those costs go up too.

Shrinking spending power

Like many of Wyoming's cities, the main route through Douglas is also a highway, giving WYDOT the final say as the agency complies with its mandates, said Jack Bell, WYDOT district engineer.

With costs up 111 percent since 1998 - and still rising - the agency couldn't afford the loss of some federal highway money earlier this year, Bell said. Several major projects in Casper have been delayed, along with smaller projects in Torrington. And that's just in Bell's district, an area spanning five or six counties.

"This year already we've let two projects (for bid) in my district, and I'm already $7 million over budget," he said. "Unless the bids come in $7 million lower, I'll have to delay another project this year. We are still in the throes of inflation."

Lining up the work

One segment of the four-piece Douglas project is still on track for 2008 - although that date is later than the original 2005 plan. Designs for rebuilding the bridge over the North Platte River and widening West Yellowstone between the state fairgrounds and the west Interstate 25 interchange are 50 to 70 percent complete, Bell estimated.

"We've been trying to hold that project where it is at the expense of some other projects because of the condition of that bridge," Bell said. "We'll have to figure out some miracle with some other project we'll have to delay… It's a juggling act."

If WYDOT is practicing a juggling act, some of the balls up in the air include major widening and rebuilding work on Center Street through downtown; the residential-commercial mix of Fourth Street; and the entire length of East Richards Street to the east I-25 interchange.

Work on Center and Fourth, which includes widening and possibly removing center islands and even stoplights, was slated for 2011 but is now set for 2019. Widening East Richards from three to five lanes and installing curbs and sidewalks was on the 2009 calendar, but has been bumped to 2017.

"It's a little frustrating," Bell said. "We see problems and just don't have the money to fix them."

City officials feel the same way: Problems exist, but it's essentially a waste of money to tear up a street now to replace water and sewer lines, only to have WYDOT come in 10 years down the road and rebuild the streets, Fitzhugh said. Some repairs might hold off that long, but others, such as the water line beneath Center Street, probably won't.

Clearing communication channels

Misperceptions about the agency's plans in such sensitive areas as downtown and the tree-canopied Fourth Street prompted WYDOT to take out a full-page advertisement in the local newspaper, the Douglas Budget.

The letter was designed to "let everyone know exactly where those projects stand," Bell said.

"Having to delay the projects is really kind of beyond our control," he said. "The chips fall where the chips fall. About the best we can do is keep everyone informed on where the project stands."

Some of WYDOT's preliminary plans for Douglas's main thoroughfares were met with protest early on. To bring streets up to highway standards, the agency wanted to take out the center islands bearing huge concrete flowerbeds and young trees, possibly change the configuration of corners and remove some of the three stoplights. Worst of all to local residents was the notice that many of the mature trees giving Fourth Street its signature canopy would probably have to go to make room for additional lanes and new sidewalks.

Negotiations with the city led to brainstorming on those items and more. Some tentative agreements were made, and now city leaders want some guarantee that future WYDOT administrators - say, in 2017 - will honor those.

"There are no absolute guarantees," Bell said. "So many things could happen… Unless it's something beyond our control, we're going to live up to our agreements."

He added that there is continuity within WYDOT, and younger staff have been in on discussions with the city from the start.

Looking ahead

If the funding situation changes, projects could regain some of their stature in WYDOT's timeline, Bell said. The current federal highway bill, which distributes money to states for highway work, expires in 2009.

Wyoming Association of Municipalities Executive Director George Parks is hopeful cities can benefit if the Legislature supplements WYDOT's budget with part of an estimated $700 million-plus surplus.

"We certainly hope that some of that money goes to WYDOT, and we hope that some of it goes to cities and towns," he said. "One of the places it would be used is on street projects. There are many projects that are on hold because the cities don't have enough money."

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