Posted: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 12:00 am
Teen boy dies in crash
MOOSE - A 16-year-old boy was killed and six others seriously injured when a minivan rolled over in Grand Teton National Park.
The minivan was carrying a family from Washington state and Hungary, and the accident happened around 7 p.m. Saturday just south of Moran Junction.
Park officials said the minivan swerved off the pavement for unknown reasons and the driver lost control. The minivan rolled over completely before coming to rest on its wheels.
Two passengers were ejected in the crash - the 16-year-old who was killed and an 8-year-old boy who suffered leg fractures and life-threatening internal injuries. Four other passengers were injured and so was the driver, 70-year-old James Kochis, of Port Orchard, Wash.
WTC to fix landslide
Stabilization of a landslide that has caused the pavement to settle and crack on a 400-foot section of Wyoming Highway 24 about eight miles west of Aladdin will be completed under a $1.1 million contract awarded by the Wyoming Transportation Commission to Oftedal Construction.
Heavy spring snow and rain caused the Upper Hay Creek slide to become active and begin affecting the highway.
The contract requires Oftedal, of Miles City, Mont., to complete embankment stabilization by Nov. 30 to prevent further movement that would affect the road, said Warren Oyler, the Wyoming Department of Transportation's resident engineer in Sundance. Reseeding and other work will be completed next spring and the contract completion date is June 30, 2009.
The highway section is continuing to carry traffic and WYDOT Project Geologist Mike Schulte said the goal of the project is to eliminate the potential that the road could fail.
The slide is located about one-half mile west of the New Hay Creek slide, which WYDOT began stabilizing a year ago.
Schulte said the unstable geology in the area has made it necessary for WYDOT to spend more than $8 million on slide stabilization on the highway in the past eight years.
Highway chip seal begins
A 16.03-mile chip sealing project is scheduled to begin today north of Powell on Wyoming Highway 295, according to Todd Frost, Wyoming Department of Transportation resident engineer in Cody.
Century Companies, Inc., of Lewistown, Mont., is the prime contractor on the $1.9 million project to widen shoulders, level asphalt pavement, and chip seal the highway.
Weather permitting, the contractor's work is scheduled for completion by Thursday, a day in advance of the start of the annual Wings N' Wheels car and air show at Powell Municipal Airport.
During the chip sealing operation, motorists should expect 20-minute delays, and traffic will be controlled by pilot cars.
The project is being funded by state funds received in 2007 from the Wyoming Legislature.