Wyoming state highway destinations

[sipes23]

Ok, as a recent arrival to Wyoming, I noticed something.

More than a couple of state highways seems to have an ending that isn't anywhere in particular. Wyoming 251 is a local culprit. It starts at US Bus 20/26 in downtown Casper, which seems like a reasonable place to begin a highway. It's populated and is at a numbered highway. But on the other end? Just a sign declaring the end of state maintenance, while the road continues on its merry way.

http://www.teresco.org/~terescoj/travelmapping/devel/hb.php?r=wy.wy251

Obviously, a lot of them do go "somewhere". Wyoming 95 is a nice local example of this.

http://www.teresco.org/~terescoj/travelmapping/devel/hb.php?r=wy.wy095

I'm used to state highways (and I suppose US highways) doing what WY 95 does. In fact, I can't really think of a good example of this elsewhere.

What's up with this? Does anyone know?

I get that maintaining roads costs money, but having it just end nowhere in particular doesn't seem to make much sense.

[renegade]

WY-253 is the same way, east of town

[roadfro]

There's a couple routes in rural Nevada that do the same thing. (And urban routes do this too, but it's usually less noticeable due to lack of signing.) It's sometimes a function of state versus local ownership.

[andy3175]

Wyoming 251 is a local culprit. It starts at US Bus 20/26 in downtown Casper, which seems like a reasonable place to begin a highway. It's populated and is at a numbered highway. But on the other end? Just a sign declaring the end of state maintenance, while the road continues on its merry way.

http://www.teresco.org/~terescoj/travelmapping/devel/hb.php?r=wy.wy251

I believe that Wyoming 251 ends at or near the Hogadon Ski Area, which is a major draw on Casper Mountain. At the point where the state highway ends, I believe the national forest service takes over maintenance although it could very well be a county route. I've not been up there since the 1990s. I will defer to Corco for more info ... his site shows many of the termini of Wyoming Highways, and you can see some recreational signage at the southern end of Wyoming 251. Here's the link to the end of Wyoming 251:

http://www.corcohighways.org/highways/wy/wyroutes/?p=1396

Also notable is that there used to be Wyoming 250, which extended from Wyoming 487 to Freeland based on map research, but it was gone by 1990. It is conceivable that county and forest service routes could connect the southern end of Wyoming 251 to the former Wyoming 250. Given that many Wyoming DOT is generally trying to pare back its lengthy list of state highways, especially in urban areas, it is doubtful that the DOT is interested in extending existing rural routes to link up with other state highways, especially if those roads are not improved to state standards (in many cases, these links are unpaved).

[corco]

Andy has it right - the road doesn't quite go to the ski area, but goes to a county road which forks off to the ski area a half mile further up the hill.

One interesting thing - both of WYO 251's termini are actually dangles. Google has it wrong- 251 was actually truncated at some point, and actually begins south of 20/26 Business, just past the turnoff to Casper College. I believe 72 and 251 are the only state highways with both termini away from state highways.

http://www.corcohighways.org/highways/wy/wyroutes/?p=1394

[SD Mapman]

What's up with this? Does anyone know?

I get that maintaining roads costs money, but having it just end nowhere in particular doesn't seem to make much sense.

A lot of "pointless spurs" are national forest/oil/natural gas access roads. That's what I think, anyway.