Casper is seeing a steady increase in heavy truck traffic, but not all those trucks have business in town.

As part of an effort to relieve congestion and keep the traffic moving, the Wyoming Department of Transportation is moving forward with its efforts to create a western truck route that bypasses the city entirely. Concerns about funding Wyoming highway projects haven't derailed the project.

"Mixing trucks and cars is not a good idea," said Jack Bell, a district engineer for WYDOT. "The West Belt Loop Bypass should pull most of the trucks off of Poplar and outer drive. Trucks that don't have to go into town won't."

Bell said the bypass should save truckers time.

The proposed 7.5-mile West Belt Loop Road, tentatively scheduled for completion in 2011, would connect U.S. Highway 20-26 heading northwest from Casper to Shoshoni and Wyoming Highway 220 heading southwest of Casper to Alcova and Rawlins.

The route will run along parts of Poison Spider and Robertson roads and enable heavy trucks to avoid driving through Mills and Casper. The bypass should also relieve some of the truck traffic along Wyoming Boulevard, Bell said.

WYDOT spokesman Jim Nations said the project is necessary because of an anticipated steady increase in truck traffic over the next 20 years, regardless of the economic situation in Casper.

"When we put in Wyoming Boulevard a few decades ago, people were outraged at the thought of a road that was so far away from town," Nations said. "For a while, traffic was light on Wyoming Boulevard, but now it's pretty much a steady line of cars and trucks."

Nations said WYDOT does traffic studies decades into the future, with the construction plans slated up to the year 2029. He said planners are already looking at an east belt loop, connecting the southeastern part of Wyoming Boulevard to Hat Six Road, east of town. The east belt loop is still decades away, he said.

"The idea is to route that through-traffic around town so it doesn't congest all the city roads," he said. "We can't have all the through-traffic traveling on Interstate 25 and Wyoming Boulevard."

Other upcoming construction projects for the area include reconstructing I-25 from Hat Six Road to the Natrona County line, repairing Salt Creek Highway and Casper Mountain Road, reconstructing Poison Spider Road and Robertson Road, adding two lanes to the southern part of Wyoming Boulevard and replacing the Bryan Stock Trail bridge over the North Platte River.

"All these projects are subject to change," Bell said. "We have to move construction dates around depending on the funding we get from the state and federal governments and depending on the price of materials. All of these project dates could change next week."

Reporter John Morgan can be reached at (307) 266-0614 or john.morgan@casperstartribune.net.