New safety signs on Teton Pass as community pushes for safer travel
TETON COUNTY, Wyo. (KIFI)– Wyoming Department of Transportation crews began installing updated signs on Monday, September 21 along Highway 22, including new “Must Stop Brake Check” signs at the summit and “No Parking” signs near the gravel escape ramp and vehicle arrestor system. This step towards safety comes after summer travel resulted in three deaths and multiple injuries.
The new signage is one part of a broader push for additional safety measures on Teton Pass.
Jared Smith, a retired civil engineer and member of the ‘Make Teton Pass Safer’ movement, said the group has identified several ways to improve safety, including education and better signage.
“We had identified a whole list of measures that we thought could be brought to bear to make Teton Pass safer. And it includes the education. It includes better signage,” Smith said.
Smith said warnings should reach drivers before they arrive at the pass, giving them an opportunity to choose a safer route.
“it needs to start at these upstream points like Tetonia, Swan Valley, Sugar City, even Hoback Junction and Jackson, you know, going westbound so that people thinking of going over the pass are rerouted down to the safer snake River Canyon if they are a heavier vehicle,” Smith said.
Other signs warning drivers about sharp curves, steep grades and the importance of staying in a low gear are also being updated.
One major change is who the warnings are directed toward. Instead of referring specifically to “truckers,” the new signs will warn “all vehicles.”
WYDOT is currently reviewing the updated signs. More will be installed as they are produced and delivered.
Safe Pass ProgramWYDOT has also launched its Safe Pass education program to help drivers understand the challenges of traveling through steep mountain terrain.
The program walks drivers through safety information and requires them to acknowledge that they understand the rules before traveling.
Starting Oct. 1, drivers of RVs, vehicles towing trailers and vehicles with a gross vehicle weight or gross vehicle weight rating of more than 10,000 pounds will be required to complete the program and self-certify that they are prepared to safely navigate mountain roads.
Smith said the goal is to make sure drivers have the information they need before they reach the pass — rather than learning about the risks after something goes wrong.
“What we hear again and again is ‘If I only knew, I would have taken a different route,’ we don’t want that to be the excuse, we want them to know. So that’s everything we’re focused on is to try to do that education and then you have to combine it with enforcement,” Smith said.
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