Oh, they have plenty of money. Wyoming has a surplus.
It is a matter of "their" priorities.
The state having a surplus has nothing to do with implementing wildlife passages. Their DOT funding is overwhelmingly funded by the feds. They're just like us in SD.
I would assume more are in the works. Wildlife under or overpasses take time and significant planning to be put in. It's not like you're building a small bridge or small culvert passage. You're building a large structure that spans about 300+ ft and over/under 4 lanes of traffic. You're talking about phases of shutting down traffic, on both sides, for weeks, to complete. They need to be funded, budgeted, and designed and approved. Also, planning where they will be most effective, coordinating with and compensating abutting landowners for temporary or permanent easements. BLM or FS as abutting landowner? More red tape. It simply can't be done over night.
Like Buzz mentioned, poor planning is the culprit. When they designed and built I80 in the 60's wildlife crossings weren't even a thought. Until just recently (last 10-15 years-ish maybe?) is when we've really started to understand wildlife migrations and migration corridors, or at least understood enough to care about.
You will see them in the future. The infrastructure bill that was singed in '21 has something like $350M for wildlife-collision avoidance. The money for building these structures will probably be almost exclusively federally funded. A state like WY doesn't have the tax base to build that kind of infrastructure alone.
I've worked with folks at WYDOT about their wildlife crossings/escape ramps as part of my job at SD DOT to help us implement them here in SD. WYDOT has smart folks and good designs. Just takes time and funding.
EV chargers not wildlife crossings, thats the future!
That is a priority of the Federal government. All states receive federal funding for them. Can't blame WY for implementing them. Like any other budget, if you don't use the funds you're given, you're not going to get funding for other wishes/priorities in the future.
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