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With $3.5 million left to fundraise for an estimated $13.5 million pathway and underpass, the “Save Teton Pass Trail” campaign has a new Feb. 1 deadline.
Teton County pushed the self-imposed deadline by a month for the up-to-3.5-mile stretch in hopes of getting more of the project built.
The county is still in the process of hiring a contractor to manage construction, said Director of Public Works Heather Overholser. That person will recommend to county commissioners just how much of the pricey pavement to pour.
Though the timeline for setting the project scope has changed slightly, the stakes are the same, according to project co-organizer Dave Bergart.
“If we’re not able to build the entire pathway,” Bergart said, “then every single dollar raised still gets us a dollar further up the path.”
And it is still the case that connecting the campground to the trailhead unlocks a $1 million federal grant to build an underpass at Coal Creek. That’s from the Federal Lands Access Program.
Proponents like the former Victor town councilor see the pathway as vital to safety along the heavily trafficked highway. It’s also part of a broader interstate ambition of 180 miles called the Greater Yellowstone Trail, now 85% complete, according to the fundraiser website.
At least the first mile of the county’s most expensive stretch of pathway to date will see a groundbreaking this year after the snow melts, Bergart said, starting at Trail Creek Campground near the Idaho-Wyoming border.
Whether that section stretches an additional 2.5 miles east to the popular Coal Creek Trailhead – and includes an underpass connecting the trail to the trailhead under Highway 22 – will depend on the community chipping in and potentially the commissioners’ appetite.
Should the campaign fall short, county commissioners could decide to allocate more than the $1.5 million already committed, Overholser said. The other option would be to move ahead with a truncated trail.
But the county electeds have indicated trepidation, at one point last year threatening to back out of the project entirely.
But no matter how this month goes fundraising-wise, the county is committed to building at least a short section. For that, $6.2 million will come from a federal Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant, awarded to Teton County in 2020.
Project leaders say the steep, geologically complicated pathway on Teton Pass is the missing link between Teton County, Wyoming’s extensive pathway network and that of Victor, Idaho and beyond.
