CHEYENNE - Jacalyn Neely made the 100-mile round-trip commute between Laramie and Cheyenne on Interstate 80 for two years before overzealous truckers scared her off the road.

Succumbing to the "headache" of big trucks and bad weather, Neely rented an apartment in Cheyenne where she now lives during the week.

"I can't tell you the number of times that I've almost had a wreck. It's unnerving," said Neely, a research specialist with the Wyoming Business Council.

Travel on I-80 is getting trickier. Truck numbers are skyrocketing, and the Wyoming Department of Transportation is strapped for maintenance dollars.

Wyoming has just a couple of years to adopt a new strategy for I-80 before things get ugly on the state's busiest highway, officials said. The solution could cost billions of dollars.

"If we took all the money we spend on every road in the state of Wyoming for the next 30 years, and we don't spend any of it anywhere but I-80, we don't have enough money to fix I-80," said Del McOmie, WYDOT's chief engineer.

I-80 is the only direct highway route through the upper Midwest, and it lacks any serious mountain passes, making it popular with truckers.

The daily traffic count from Laramie to Cheyenne now tops 12,800, and the figure is expected to grow by more than 35 percent in the next 20 years.

The number of big rigs, which now comprise half of I-80 traffic, is expected to increase by 60 percent in the next two decades to more than 12,200 semis a day.

That's 300 trucks per hour. One truck every 12 seconds.

A loaded semi can weigh upwards of 130,000 pounds and exert the same strain on the road as 4,000 to 5,000 passenger vehicles, while occupying the space of 10 cars.

"As far as I-80 is concerned, I don't think a whole lot of people really understand how busy that highway is," said Dave Edwards, chairman of the Legislature's House Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee.

Jim Robinson, another I-80 commuter, said the idea of more big rigs on the interstate seems inconceivable.

"It just seems like there isn't much more room for trucks," said Robinson, who carpools from Laramie to Cheyenne daily.

Rachel Anson, a hotel worker in Rock Springs, commutes on I-80 from her home in Green River. She said big rigs are a major hazard, especially in winter.

"They don't slow down," Anson said. "Nine out of 10 of them are scary."

Robert Hermann, a trucker based in Cheyenne, said an increase in truck traffic will mean more unsafe drivers, which should be a concern for everyone.

"It's not too safe," said Hermann, who drives for Bar S Trucking.

About 85 percent of I-80 in Wyoming rates in "good" or "excellent" condition, based on a state rating system. By 2020, half of the roadway will rate in "poor" condition without more funding, according to WYDOT.

Deterioration on I-80 in Wyoming could have serious national consequences. A one-hour traffic disruption costs the U.S. economy around $1 million an hour, according to the federal government.

At home, WYDOT could be forced to divert maintenance dollars from other state highways to keep I-80 open to interstate traffic. States are responsible for maintaining highways within their borders.

"We're still scrambling at the district level to figure out whether we are going to be able to have snowplow operations on these roads 24-7 like we have now," McOmie said.

The Wyoming Trucking Association has concerns about rising I-80 traffic and the impact on safety and traffic congestion, Managing Director Sheila Foertsch said.

"If a road is seeing that kind of truck traffic, it needs to be in the best condition it can be in," Foertsch said.

All proposals to fix or expand I-80 are expensive.

* One is to overhaul the four-lane highway in its current form, which will cost about $6 billion over 30 years, according to WYDOT estimates.

* Upgrading the asphalt roadway to a sturdier four-lane concrete roadway would add 20 years to the life of the highway at a cost of about $7.5 billion after adjusting for inflation.

* A more ambitious solution is to rebuild the interstate as a six-lane concrete highway, which would result in far less congestion and traffic disruption for construction and wrecks. The cost would run about $8 billion with inflation.

* Other ideas include bypassing sections of I-80 that are difficult to maintain in winter storms, or a separate highway for trucks. Costs estimates vary widely for both.

None of the estimates include the price of right-of-way acquisition, utilities, bridge and interchange upgrades and additional law enforcement and maintenance.

Complicating the issue, traffic patterns on I-80 could change, State Planning Engineer Bob Milburn said.

A drop in world oil supply would make it expensive to ship consumer products. Consumer demand could stabilize. New technology could make today's road systems obsolete.

"You look at this and say, 'Boy, are we really going to have all these cars running up and down I-80 50 years from now?'" Milburn said.

But all current estimates point to more big rigs on I-80 - lots of them. And that will require a new solution, or at least a big investment in the current system, officials said.

Edwards' committee is supporting legislation for an I-80 study commission. The group of highway professionals, lawmakers and state highway commissioners would have six or eight months and $100,000 to come up with a solution.

"I'm not talking about a long, bureaucratic session," Edwards said.

Whatever solution Wyoming chooses, it needs to be well down that road in just a few years, officials said. Delays will only increase costs.

"In five years or less we need to make some very strong commitments and decisions on I-80, or we may have passed the critical juncture where it will really cost us," Milburn said.

Click here for related article 'On the precipice: Wyo risks economy, way of life without highway funding fix, WYDOT says'.

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Reach capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or at jared.miller@casperstartribune.net.