Sheridan Avenue – What’s Next?

The Sheridan Avenue rehabilitation project is making excellent progress – so don’t be surprised if you see the construction continuing into mid-December.

As of this week, the east side intersection at Alger Avenue and 17^th Street is closed – the final step of Phase 2 of the Sheridan Avenue rehabilitation project. Everything is going smoothly, which is why the construction will keep going for a few more weeks.

Cody Beers, WYDOT Public Relations Specialist, says S&S Builders – the primary contractor – is taking advantage of the relatively mild weather to get a slight jump start on the Greybull Hill.

“(The contractor) is planning to keep moving up the hill for another week and a half or so on the east side of the street,” Beers said. “They’re making really good progress in the Alger intersection, so their plan is to move up the hill on the same side of the street – weather permitting – and do slab replacement to about Draw Street. Then they’ll shut things down for the winter.”

S&S Builders hopes to return to 17^th Street and begin Phase 3, the final phase of the Sheridan Avenue rehabilitation project, by mid to late February 2021.

Phase 3 – rehabilitating 17^th Street between Alger Avenue and Stampede Avenue – is officially scheduled to be completed by June 15, 2021. And there’s good reason to anticipate its full completion by that point. In the contract awarded to S&S Builders, they’ll receive a $200 thousand bonus if the entirety of the project is completed by June 15.

Beers says this has been a good project overall and praises the cooperation of all the affected business owners for the duration of Phases 1 and 2. He says that the success of the work will ensure that more isn’t needed for quite a while.

“This project is a rehabilitation project which prevents us from having to do a full reconstruction project which would be extremely disruptive to Cody’s downtown area. So by getting in and doing these repairs –  upgrading our ADA improvements on sidewalks and street corners, rewiring traffic signals, replacing damaged concrete slabs and curb/gutter/sidewalk  – our hope is that we’re not gonna be back working there for a couple of decades. That’s good news for downtown Cody,” he said.

Meanwhile, concrete grinding and texturing begin next week along the entire stretch of road covered during Phase 2 – 15^th Street to Alger Avenue.

Grinding on Sheridan Avenue has traditionally occurred overnight to minimize its impact on Cody traffic. However, next week’s grinding could occur during the day or the night – any hours where the temperature is above freezing.

Be aware of rolling closures on Sheridan Avenue, which will be set up whenever and where grinding is occurring.

The other rules remain in place – 20 mph speed limit and no left turns thru the work zone, and traffic is being carried in one lane each direction on the west side of the street.