Bridges to Laramie’s West Side
The 1885 Laramie City map shows nine railroad tracks in the downtown area that had to be crossed at a grade level to get to the West Side–no bridge or tunnel existed. The depot was at the foot of Ivinson Ave. (South A St. then), and a train could block crossings at Grand Ave. (South B St.). and Fremont St. (North A St.)
Improvements stall
Accidents were so common that the UPRR helped the city to install a manual gate on the east side at Grand Ave. and a watchman to operate it. Townspeople got together in 1914 and again in 1920 to discuss improvements. A legislative bill in 1924 that would have compelled UPRR to build a bridge over its Laramie tracks failed.
Ranchers complained that the north crossing to the stockyards was blocked all night at one point. Cement contractor Alfred Nelson tallied up the times his delivery trucks and workmen had been delayed at either the Grand or Fremont crossings and showed how much money the delays were costing him. Others complained that the watchman at Grand Ave. was too slow to open the crossing gates, causing delays of 10 to thirty minutes.
The UPRR official present at the 1920 meeting, Wyoming Division Superintendent J.V. Anderson was skeptical about alternatives, despite the 100 trains per day through Laramie that he estimated. “Money was not to be had now for the building of a viaduct, a new depot, or any other improvement,” said Anderson. Banker Edward Ivinson challenged those present to a fund drive for a bridge, and pledged $1,000 for that purpose himself, estimating it would cost $50,000. Again, nothing happened. “The crossing situation is still very far from satisfactory,” said the Boomerang.
Viaducts appear
A bridge, locally called a “viaduct” did finally get built in 1929 at University St., with the grand opening in January 1930. The cost was $190,000, shared by the city and the UPRR. Some older buildings along University were removed for the new bridge. The two grade level crossings at Grand and Fremont were closed.
As part of the auto viaduct project, a steel pedestrian footbridge was constructed at Garfield St. It had a stairway down on the south side that gave access to the UPRR shops in the middle of the railyard so workers did not have to cross tracks on foot. That railyard stairway is gone now as are the shops, but the footbridge itself is still in service, upgraded with new lighting in a project initiated by Laramie’s Main Street Alliance.
West Side resident Cheryl Green remembers that first viaduct with no fondness. “I was so happy that when I got my driver’s license that the University St. viaduct had just been replaced. It was so steep and narrow” she says.
It was 1963 when a new viaduct was built at Clark St. to replace the one at University St. Some Laramie residents may recall the Clark Street viaduct with no more fondness than Cheryl Green’s for the earlier one. The new one may have been wider but used a now-discredited form of cement that showed obvious deterioration in its later years, and the roadway still felt narrow. Chunks of broken concrete often littered the edges of the traffic lanes. Obviously, something had to be done.
Also in 1963, the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) built another bridge at Curtis St. By then the stockyard had closed. The Curtis St. bridge was to provide an interchange to I-80, then under planning and construction through Laramie. That bridge is still in use.
The Snowy Range Bridge
When a new bridge replacing the Clark Street Viaduct opened on July 16, 2018, it was the culmination of over 25 years of planning. WYDOT knew that opinions of West Side residents needed to be respected, as well as the historic infrastructure of the area.
One historic site to be obliterated were some remnants of the LHP&P, a 1907 spur railroad acquired and shut down by the UPRR that had served Centennial, Albany and Walden, Colorado. For a few years it was reopened as a scenic railroad, but that didn’t last, and the tracks have now been removed, including the “Wye” on the West Side where engines could reverse directions.
After citizen input, Harney Street was the chosen site, and WYDOT renamed the new road west from 3rd and Harney as Snowy Range Road. The Laramie UPRR Depot museum received some mitigation funds from WYDOT to memorialize the LHP&P railroad and to conduct some oral histories with West Side residents.
Bill Panos, WYDOT director in 2018, said that the cost of the new bridge and highway connecting it with Snowy Range Road, was $23.5 million, as Sara Teter reported on the website “Laramie Live.” She said WYDOT chief engineer Gregg Fredrick pointed out that it also recognizes multi-modal transportation, providing safe biking and walking access as well as for vehicles.
The Snowy Range Bridge has aided the West Side neighborhood by removing major through traffic, especially trucks from Cedar St. More importantly, it curved around the residential streets rather than cutting the neighborhood in half as the Clark St. viaduct had done. It required a concerted effort on the part of West Side residents to explain why some of the other alternative bridge locations suggested by WYDOT were unacceptable. West Side residents also realized that they have potential for successful activism when they unite in a cause.
By Judy Knight
Caption: 1930 photo showing the then-new University St. viaduct over Laramie’s railroad tracks. In the foreground is a railroad baggage handcart at the north edge of the new UPRR depot at Kearney St., built in 1924 after the first depot at Ivinson Ave. burned in 1917. The unique cornice of the Johnson Hotel can be seen at the extreme right edge, at 1st and Grand Ave. Apparently, the Grand Ave. grade level crossing was still open with its crossing gates shown in the center of the photo where a man is standing. The photographer was probably standing on the ramp to the the Garfield St. footbridge in the foreground that was still under construction. Photo by Henning Svenson from the Svenson/Ludwig Studio Collection at the UW American Heritage Center.