It is our understanding that everyone in town recently received the “Frequently Asked Questions” letter from the State Highway Department, not just the people who live on the Hams Fork Road.

We do have a few comments. They send out this little information sheet thinking it will pacify all of us into accepting subpar work.  If you have been out and driven the road, it is obvious that there are some definite problems. What has been done has not improved the road. It is worse now than it was before. We drive the road every day.

The chip and seal should never have been put on before the grade was smooth and it was very obvious before the chip and seal was started. The result is a very washboard surface. There is a two inch road bump at the beginning and the end of the project not to mention about an inch at every point that the contractor stopped and started each day. There are numerous points where the water sits on the road after a rain. When we begin to get freezing nights this will be hazardous. It is especially bad at the first bridge area which also sits on a curve.

Our asphalt driveway was originally tied into the road.  Now there is a gap between the existing roadway and our driveway, not to mention the inches of chipping gravel that are piled at every approach on the road. It also causes a hazard.

The guardrail has no consistency at all. It leans all directions and is all different heights.  It is an eye sore and will act as a snow fence this winter, encouraging the snow to pile on the roadway.  The drifting this winter will be excessive and hazardous.

The State Highway Department has accepted poor-quality work thinking that this is a little podunk road that no one drives on and it doesn’t matter. What they don’t realize is that there is actually a lot of recreation traffic year round.

One expects things like chipped windshields and tar on our vehicles when construction is done but at least the finished product makes it worth it. They have wasted our tax payer dollars and left us with a road that will not hold up and will be much more hazardous than it ever was before.

If you agree we hope that you will call or email the number on the information sheet that was sent.

Bob and Joy Fox

Kemmerer, WY