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About two dozen volunteers with Save Teton Pass Trail are seeking private donations to raise $5 million before the end of the year.
They’re looking to close a funding gap for 3.6 miles of pathway across state lines between the trailheads of Trail Creek in Idaho to Coal Creek in Wyoming. The nearly 4 miles of trail will cost $12.4 million in total.
Former Victor City Councilor Dave Bergart is helping lead the effort.
“It is going to be a Herculean task,” he said.
The challenge comes after Teton County, Wyoming commissioners signaled they would pulled back from the entirety of the project earlier this year, due to shrinking revenue and the steep costs of retaining walls. After outcry from project partners in Idaho, the board changed course and is still contributing $1.2 million from local coffers. No matter what happens for the fresh philanthropic campaign, $5 million will come from a federal grant.
But some federal dollars from a $25 million federal BUILD grant, already doled out, would go void.
Teton County, Wyoming pathway guru Tim Young, who’s leading Save Teton Pass Trail from Wyoming’s side, says this project is unique because it’s already approved. Environmental reviews, designs and plans are done.
All that’s needed to go out to bid is the money.
“This is a shovel-ready project,” he said, “and it can be completely built in the next year.”
And if they meet the New Year’s Eve deadline, they could unlock another $1 million in federal funds from a different grant – the Federal Lands Access Program – for a tunnel under the Teton Pass highway at Coal Creek.
If the pathway is built in full, it would allow recreators to avoid traveling along the shoulder of the Teton Pass highway, which can see over 10,000 vehicles each day.
Former Victor City Councilor Dave Bergart is helping lead the effort he says would allow recreators to avoid traveling along the shoulder of the Teton Pass highway, which can see over 10,000 vehicles each day.
He’s thinking of skiers parking in Coal Creek and then doing “the plastic boot shuffle across the highway, trying not to get hit.”
“This is the most dangerous section, probably anywhere in Teton County,” Young said.
Coming from Victor, it would link to a section of an over 180-mile Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem trail from West Yellowstone to Grand Teton National Park.
