CHEYENNE -- For the second winter in a row, interstate traffic from Laramie to Rawlins will be a little slower -- and hopefully a little safer.

From Thursday until April 15, the speed limit along 52 miles of Interstate 80 will again be lowered from 75 mph to 65 mph, the Wyoming Department of Transportation announced Monday.

By mid-December, highway officials also hope to install electronic speed limit signs that allow them to lower the posted speed limits as low as 35 mph, depending on weather conditions.

The hope is that the slower speeds will help prevent crashes and road closures on one of the state's most accident-prone stretches of highway, as it passes through an area that often sees extreme and rapidly changing winter weather conditions.

"This particular stretch of Interstate 80 is what we refer to as a high crash frequency area," Wyoming Highway Patrol Col. Sam Powell said in a media release. "You can come around a corner and find just terrible conditions that you really have no forewarning of. It's our belief that asking people to slow down just 10 mph is a small price for them to pay to enhance their safety."

The speed limit changes will affect motorists driving between the Quealy Dome Road interchange 20 miles west of Laramie and the Peterson Road interchange 22 miles east of Rawlins.

During the past five years, that part of I-80 had a crash rate of 1.37 crashes per 1 million vehicle miles traveled, according to the release. The overall statewide average for rural interstates in Wyoming was 1.1 crashes per million vehicle miles.

Initially, static 65 mph speed limit signs will be posted between the Peterson Road and West Elk Mountain exits; electronic variable-speed signs will be used between the West Elk Mountain and Quealy Dome Road exits. WYDOT expects to install variable speed limit signs on the entire 52-mile-long section by mid-December, according to the release.

The variable signs are part of a 30-month study by the University of Wyoming to determine how effective the signs are in reducing traffic accidents and closures, according to the release.

How well the signs work along this length of I-80 this winter will help determine whether to continue enforcing a lower seasonal speed limit and if electronic signs should be posted in other areas of the state, the release stated.

Sheila Foertsch, managing director of the Wyoming Trucking Association, said her group supports the speed limit changes.

"The weather can change so radically along that stretch, that we just think driving slower along that stretch -- and with the ability to lower it even more if the weather conditions or accidents require it -- we just think that makes for a safer stretch of road," she said.

Contact capital bureau reporter Jeremy Pelzer at 307-632-1244 or jeremy.pelzer@trib.com