2010 Wyoming Statutes
Title 24 - Highways
Chapter 2 - Department Of Transportation

CHAPTER 2 - DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

 

24-2-101. Department and commission created; qualifications; appointment; term; removal; compensation; location of offices; power to bring civil actions; official seal.

 

(a) There is created a department of transportation to consist of a transportation commission and a director of the department of transportation. The commission shall consist of seven (7) commissioners, not all of whom shall be registered in the same political party. They shall biennially elect their chairman on or after the first day of March. The commissioners shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, and each shall serve for a term of six (6) years. The terms of all commissioners appointed after the effective date of this section shall terminate on the last day of February of the sixth year of the term regardless of the date of the beginning of the term. The governor may remove any commissioner as provided in W.S. 9-1-202.

 

(b) One (1) commissioner shall be appointed from each of the following districts:

 

(i) District No. 1 composed of the counties of Laramie, Goshen and Platte;

 

(ii) District No. 2 composed of the counties of Albany, Carbon and Sweetwater;

 

(iii) District No. 3 composed of the counties of Lincoln, Teton, Sublette and Uinta;

 

(iv) District No. 4 composed of the counties of Campbell, Johnson and Sheridan;

 

(v) District No. 5 composed of the counties of Big Horn, Hot Springs, Park and Washakie;

 

(vi) District No. 6 composed of the counties of Crook, Niobrara and Weston;

 

(vii) District No. 7 composed of the counties of Converse, Fremont and Natrona.

 

(c) The appointment in each district shall rotate successively among the several counties comprising the district. If any commissioner ceases to reside in, or for a continuous period of six (6) months or more is absent from the county, the governor shall declare his office vacant and shall appoint a successor from the same county in accordance with W.S. 28-12-101.

 

(d) Each commissioner shall qualify by taking the constitutional oath of office, and each shall receive a salary of six hundred dollars ($600.00) per year and actual and necessary traveling expenses while away from home in the performance of the duties of office, to be paid from the state highway fund.

 

(e) The commission shall maintain offices at the state capital. The commission is empowered to sue in the name of the "Transportation Commission of Wyoming", and may be sued by that name in the courts of this state and in no other jurisdiction upon any contract executed by it. The attorney general is the legal advisor of the commission and shall prosecute and defend all actions and shall also appear in all proceedings in any federal department in which the commission is a party or is interested.

 

(f) The commission shall have a seal bearing the words "Transportation Commission of Wyoming, Official Seal", and all copies of all records and other instruments in the office of the commission, certified under the hand of its secretary with the seal affixed shall be received in any court as prima facie evidence of the original record or instrument.

 

(g) Effective July 1, 1979, appointments and terms shall be in accordance with W.S. 28-12-101 through 28-12-103.

 

(h) The commission, department and appropriate divisions within the department may operate upon a federal fiscal year basis commencing October 1 of each year. The commission, department and all divisions within the department shall report revenues and expenditures upon a state fiscal year commencing July 1, 2010.

 

24-2-102. General powers; power of eminent domain limited.

 

 

(a) To construct, maintain and supervise the public highways of this state, the department of transportation is authorized to:

 

(i) Acquire, hold and manage real property in the name of the transportation commission and to develop, improve, operate and maintain the same for any necessary public purpose. Lands acquired for rights-of-way for highways may be up to three hundred (300) feet wide and greater where extra width is necessary for:

 

(A) Deposits of road building materials;

 

(B) Deposits of waste materials;

 

(C) Embankments;

 

(D) Excavations;

 

(E) Maintenance;

 

(F) Parking facilities;

 

(G) Roadside rest areas; and

 

(H) Scenic roadside areas.

 

(ii) Sell, exchange, abandon, relinquish or otherwise dispose of real property including land, water and improvements for any necessary purpose in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the transportation commission, provided that disposition of water rights shall be in accordance with law.

 

(b) The commission shall not acquire property by eminent domain except for highway rights-of-way as specified by subparagraphs (a)(i)(A) through (F) of this section and only if the property for those purposes is immediately adjacent to the highway right-of-way.

 

24-2-103. Repealed by Laws 1983, ch. 139, 2.

 

 

24-2-104. Repealed by Laws 1983, ch. 139, 2.

 

24-2-105. Appointment of director; qualifications; salary and expenses; powers and duties.

 

 

(a) The commission shall submit a minimum of three (3) names of qualified candidates to the governor who shall appoint a director of the department of transportation. The director shall receive an annual salary as provided by law, payable in equal monthly installments. He shall be allowed his actual and necessary traveling and other expenses incurred in the discharge of his official duties, and shall give his entire time to the duties of his office. With the approval of the commission, the director shall have complete charge of laying out and establishing highways upon which any portion of the state highway fund is to be expended, including expenditures for roads now in existence or in the future to be constructed, which are part of the state highway system which are located within or partially within the national forests' boundaries, and shall purchase all materials, supplies and equipment, including road-building machinery, materials, supplies and equipment, and shall employ such engineers, superintendents and employees with salaries as provided by law, as necessary for the proper performance of the duties of the department and the construction work undertaken by it. The director, with the approval of the commission, may promulgate and adopt rules and regulations as provided by the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act, necessary for the proper performance of the duties and functions of the department.

 

(b) Notwithstanding 1991 Wyoming Session Laws, Chapter 241, Section 1(a)(iv), the director of the department of transportation is authorized to regulate and control the expenditure of any administrative funds not otherwise provided by law and not specifically regulated and controlled by the transportation commission.

 

24-2-106. Appointment of chief engineer; duties of director and engineer.

 

 

(a) With the approval of the commission, the director of the department of transportation shall appoint a qualified chief engineer who shall:

 

(i) Compile all available information relative to the public roads and bridges within the state;

 

(ii) Prepare standard plans and specifications for the construction of roads, culverts and bridges, and compile data relative to road and bridge materials and their values;

 

(iii) Furnish standard plans, specifications and data to any board of county commissioners upon request, and advise with boards of county commissioners with respect to highway construction and improvements not within the jurisdiction of the department when requested;

 

(iv) Prepare or approve plans and specifications for all bridges to be constructed by any county, city or town within the state;

 

(v) Be a licensed professional civil engineer, knowledgeable and experienced in highway and bridge construction and maintenance.

 

(b) No contract for the construction of a bridge is valid unless the plans and specifications have been prepared by the director of the department of transportation or the chief engineer or, if prepared by other professional engineers, the bridge designs, plans and specifications have been approved by the director or the chief engineer before the start of construction. The review and approval under this section shall be made without cost to cities, towns and counties. Final payment upon any contract shall not be made until the bridge is inspected and the payment approved by the designer of the bridge and the appropriate governing body.

 

24-2-107. Required reports.

 

The director of the department of transportation shall make an annual report to the commission of the transactions of the department, and on or before December first of each even-numbered year, the commission shall, as required by W.S. 9-2-1014, report to the governor.

 

24-2-108. Road and bridge construction.

 

All road and bridge construction work, any part of the cost of which is paid from the state highway fund, shall be performed in accordance with the plans and specifications prepared by the director of the department of transportation or the chief engineer and approved by the commission, and shall be performed by or under contracts awarded by the commission. The director with the assistance of the chief engineer shall have complete charge, including expenditures for roads now in existence, or in the future to be constructed, which are part of state highway systems which are located within or partially within the national forests' boundaries. All improvements costing more than two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000.00) shall be constructed under contracts awarded after public notice to the lowest responsible bidder determined qualified by the transportation commission of Wyoming which is given the power to determine the qualifications and responsibilities of bidders. The commission may reject any or all bids and readvertise for bids. Improvements costing less than forty thousand dollars ($40,000.00) may be constructed by the commission upon force account, with its own forces or under contract, as the commission shall determine. A state highway construction job to be completed within any calendar year period and to cost more than forty thousand dollars ($40,000.00) shall not be constructed by department of transportation forces in sections or parcels so as to come within the forty thousand dollars ($40,000.00) limitation. Contracts may be entered into with railroad companies for the construction of grade separation structures at actual cost under terms and conditions approved by the commission. Whenever an emergency arises requiring immediate expenditure of funds for the repair or rebuilding of bridges, approaches to bridges and any roadway, when the bridges, approaches to bridges or roadway are required to be rebuilt immediately and in such short time that in the judgment of the commission the people would be seriously inconvenienced in waiting the regular period for advertising for bids, the commission may enter into contract for any building or rebuilding of bridges, approaches or roadway without advertising for the letting of any contract, provided the amount of the contract shall not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000.00) and provided the commission requests proposals from at least two (2) contractors capable of performing the emergency construction or repair. The commission shall adopt general rules and regulations for the publication of notice to bidders, the awarding of contracts, and for determining the qualifications and responsibilities of bidders.

 

24-2-109. Designation of state highways; vesting of county interest in state; commission authorized to acquire severed portions of land; land to be sold.

 

 

(a) The transportation commission shall designate public highways to be known as state highways, which may coincide in whole or in part with previously established county roads. When the state highway is defined and designated by resolution entered in the records of the commission, all title and interest of the respective counties, in the road and right-of-way designated, shall pass to and vest in the transportation commission of Wyoming.

 

(b) Pursuant to W.S. 24-2-102:

 

(i) Any rights-of-way for state highways not acquired from the respective counties may be acquired;

 

(ii) The commission shall have the authority to acquire by purchase or gift, the parcel or parcels of property that may be severed or damaged as a result of the acquisition of the highway right-of-way; provided, that the commission shall not acquire any such parcel or parcels of land by purchase or gift until full settlement has been made for the damages to the landowner as otherwise provided by law;

 

(iii) Any parcel of land acquired pursuant to paragraph (b)(ii) of this section and not otherwise used for highway purposes or traded for land used for highway purposes shall be offered for sale within two (2) years from the date of the completion of the project for which it was acquired. After written notice to the state building commission, the sale or disposition of this land shall be in accordance with rules and regulations adopted by the transportation commission.

 

24-2-110. Cooperation with counties in construction and maintenance of county roads; allocation of costs; state-county road construction account established.

 

(a) The board of county commissioners of each county shall establish a separate road construction and maintenance fund solely for the construction and maintenance of county roads, bridges and culverts. Work using funds from the road construction and maintenance fund of a county shall be performed under contract awarded after competitive bidding if the estimated cost of the work exceeds fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00). All work shall be performed under the immediate control and supervision of the board of county commissioners or its authorized representative and in accordance with county road standards as established by the Wyoming county road standards committee. The road construction and maintenance fund program is a supplement to federal aid, primary and secondary road programs in each county. The term "construction and maintenance" as used in this section means construction, reconstruction, surveys, mapping, right-of-way costs, bridges, culverts, general road maintenance and fencing. The county shall use existing grades, bridges and other physical items or facilities in order to minimize or avoid more costly relocation.

 

(b) All expenses of maintaining the road after its construction is completed shall be paid by the county.

 

(c) The gasoline license tax revenues distributed by the state treasurer under W.S. 39-17-111(d)(ii) shall be sent to the county treasurers of the various counties and placed in a separate fund in each county earning its own interest and be expended by the board of county commissioners solely for the road construction and maintenance fund program and as otherwise provided in this subsection. This money shall be allocated as follows:

 

(i) To the highway fund, an amount equal to the counties' contribution for the cost of the university's technology transfer program under W.S. 21-17-115(a)(ii) or thirty-one thousand two hundred fifty dollars ($31,250.00), whichever is less;

 

(ii) The remainder to the counties and the share allocated to each county shall be based fifty percent (50%) upon the percentage ratio which the rural population including the population within the cities and towns with less than one thousand four hundred (1,400) of each county bears to the total rural population of the state and fifty percent (50%) based upon the percentage ratio which the area of each county bears to the area of the state. Any interest earned on the investment of monies in the fund created by this subsection shall be retained by each county and shall be used for project costs as authorized by this section.

 

(d) Repealed by Laws 2008, Ch. 24, 2.

 

(e) Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 170, 2.

 

(f) There is created a Wyoming county road standards committee appointed by the governor consisting of:

 

(i) Three (3) members nominated by the Wyoming county commissioners association, one (1) of whom shall be a registered professional engineer;

 

(ii) Two (2) members nominated by the Wyoming association of consulting engineers and surveyors;

 

(iii) One (1) member nominated by the Wyoming contractors association; and

 

(iv) One (1) member nominated by the Wyoming association of county engineers and road superintendents.

 

(g) It shall be the responsibility of the Wyoming county roads standards committee to furnish standards for the construction and maintenance of county roads to any board of county commissioners upon request, and to advise boards of county commissioners with respect to highway construction, maintenance and improvements. The committee shall meet as necessary, but at least annually.

 

(h) Whenever an emergency arises requiring construction or maintenance work using funds from the road construction and maintenance fund of a county, the board of county commissioners may enter into contract for the work without advertising for the letting of the contract. An emergency is an occasion requiring construction or maintenance work, on short notice, because the road has become unsafe or impassable due to events which are beyond the control of the county.

 

24-2-111. Cooperation with cities in construction of streets connecting state highways and construction of storm sewers along streets designated as state highways.

 

(a) The transportation commission may cooperate with incorporated cities and towns in the construction of public streets and highways, including bridges and culverts, but excepting bypass routes, if the streets or highways constitute direct connections between sections of established state highways. All cooperative work shall be performed under the immediate control and supervision of the director of the department of transportation in accordance with plans and specifications prepared under the supervision of the director or the chief engineer, but no contract shall be let nor work commenced until sixty (60) days after the plans for the work have been submitted and approved by the legislative body of the incorporated city or town. The failure of the legislative body of the incorporated city or town to take official action approving or disapproving the plans within sixty (60) days shall constitute approval for the purpose of this section. The entire cost of construction of the streets and highways and the maintenance, including streets and highways currently in existence, shall be paid by the transportation commission with the following exceptions:

 

(i) The cost of construction of storm sewers along streets designated as state highways shall be paid by the transportation commission. If the city decides to connect other storm sewers with the one constructed by the commission, the commission shall only pay for the cost of a storm sewer needed to provide drainage for the street. If additional costs are incurred, the cities shall pay these additional costs. The city or town, if the population is over fifteen hundred (1,500) or more, shall pay all costs of, and be responsible for, the cleaning and maintenance of the storm sewers;

 

(ii) The city or town, if it has a population of fifteen hundred (1,500) or more, shall pay all costs of, and be responsible for, the cleaning, sweeping and washing of, and snow removal from the streets and highways. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the transportation commission may contribute financial assistance to any city or town with a population between fifteen hundred (1,500) and five thousand (5,000) that is performing its duties under this paragraph in a total amount not to exceed twenty dollars ($20.00) per capita annually to the city or town;

 

(iii) The entire cost to the state of the construction, maintenance and acquisition of the necessary right-of-way for any highway route, which constitutes a bypass of any incorporated city or town, and which is constructed for the purpose of satisfying the highway construction standards established by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and approved by the federal highway administration including access control, regardless whether any portion lies within the corporate limits of any city or town, shall be paid by the transportation commission.

 

24-2-112. Contracts and agreements with United States government.

 

The legislature of the state of Wyoming assents to the provisions of the act of congress approved July 11, 1916, entitled "an act to provide that the United States shall aid the states in the construction of rural post roads, and for other purposes," together with all acts and legislation, amendatory or supplementary, or which shall grant or authorize aid for the construction, improvement, maintenance or repair of public roads or highways. The transportation commission is authorized to enter into all contracts and agreements with the United States government relating to the construction and maintenance of roads under the provisions of the act or acts of congress to submit the scheme or program or construction or maintenance as may be required by the federal highway administration and to do all other things necessary fully to carry out the cooperation contemplated and provided for by the act or acts, for the construction or improvement of highways under the act, the good faith of the state is pledged to make available funds sufficient to equal the sums apportioned to the state by or under the United States government during each of the years for which federal funds are appropriated by section 3 of the act and to maintain the roads so constructed with the aid of funds appropriated and to make adequate provisions for carrying out maintenance. Cooperative agreements under the provisions of the act shall be entered into with the federal highway administration only by the commission, but may be for the construction or improvement of either a state highway or a county road. If the road to be improved under such cooperative agreement is a state highway, the state's share of the expense shall be borne entirely by the state; if the highway to be improved or constructed under such cooperative agreement is not a state highway, the state's share of the cost of the work shall be divided between the state and the county upon such basis as the commission shall determine, and before an agreement is entered into with the federal highway administration the county must furnish the right-of-way and shall have entered into an agreement with the commission whereby it shall agree to pay its share of the cost and to pay the cost of all subsequent maintenance, work which shall be performed by and under the supervision of the director of the department of transportation, and the county also shall pay into the state highway fund its share of the estimated cost of the construction.

 

24-2-113. Repealed by Laws 1983, ch. 139, 2.

 

 

24-2-114. State agency law enforcement communications system; department duties and responsibilities.

 

(a) The department of transportation shall:

 

(i) Maintain, install, operate and dispatch the state agency law enforcement communications system as defined by W.S. 9-2-1101(b), subject to the supervision of the director of telecommunications as provided by W.S. 9-2-1026.1;

 

(ii) Supervise personnel and budget funds necessary for the maintenance, installation, operation and dispatching of the state agency law enforcement communications system; and

 

(iii) Provide technical assistance and advice as requested by the law enforcement communications commission and by the state [law enforcement] radio communications consultant.

 

(b) The budget for maintenance, operation and dispatching of the state agency law enforcement communications system shall be approved by the director of the department of transportation and by the legislature.

 

24-2-115. Program for informational signing by businesses, main street or historic sites; department duties and responsibilities; contracting of duties; fees.

 

 

(a) As authorized under W.S. 31-5-406(b), the department of transportation shall establish a program for informational signing by business entities as part of departmental approved motorist service panels or roadside information panels erected within rights-of-way along interstate and primary highways. The program shall be designed for advertising and information of interest to the traveling public in accordance with 23 U.S.C. 131(f).

 

(b) In establishing the program under this section, the department shall by rule and regulation:

 

(i) Provide for application by business entities for the display of its name or logo upon the informational signing;

 

(ii) Provide for application by main street or historic sites for signing upon approval by the federal highway administration for interstate highways and the department of transportation for primary highways;

 

(iii) Establish a uniform initial fee and annual permit fee for applicants to cover the costs of constructing, erecting and maintaining informational signing, including the costs of contracting for any of these services;

 

(iv) Establish minimum standards for informational signing by business entities in accordance with 23 U.S.C. 315;

 

(v) Provide for the administration of the program and subject to W.S. 9-2-1016(b), may establish necessary procedures for contracting services for the construction, erection and maintenance of highway informational signing pursuant to this section.

 

(c) Initial and permit fees established by the department pursuant to paragraph (b)(iii) of this section shall not exceed the costs of installing and maintaining the signs, including the costs of contracting for any of these services, and the costs of administering the program. All fees collected by the department under the program shall be deposited into the state highway fund.