"There aren't enough cars, trees, park benches, and things of that nature on the side of the road."
According to Mayor Eric Green, that is roughly what the Wyoming Department of Transportation told earlier Alpine administrations when they asked to slow US-89 through town. He told Cowboy State Daily that previous administrations had always heard there was "no way" to get traffic below 35 miles per hour in town. Green ran for mayor partly on a promise to slow traffic, and he says that promise "was laughed at."
The plastic bollards and fresh striping at US-89 and Greys River Road are the town's answer to that objection. The demonstration opened September 22 and stays through October 14. Crews then remove it, and the intersection returns to its regular layout on October 15. Most of the discussion has been about whether the circle is too small, too tight or too annoying. The more useful question is what the town was trying to prove with it.
Why WYDOT's "Traffic Friction" Standard Matters
US-89 is a state highway under WYDOT's jurisdiction. Any permanent change at this intersection needs the agency's coordination and approval. At the September 1 council meeting, Councilmember Larsen said WYDOT had not approved simply lowering the posted speed limit, and that the test was meant to assess traffic calming instead.
Green described WYDOT's reasoning in specific terms. The road lacked enough "traffic friction" to justify a lower limit, and a roundabout is the kind of feature that could change that. "The only way that WYDOT would be open to reducing the speed limit (through Alpine) is by putting in something like this," he said.
So the demonstration answers two questions. One is whether a circle works at Greys River Road. The other is whether physical changes on the road can earn Alpine a slower stretch of US-89. The town's own Safe Streets and Roads for All page calls the circle a way "to evaluate a potential safety improvement before considering any long-term changes."
Why Greys River Road Was the Test Site
Green calls Greys River Road the busiest access corridor into Bridger-Teton National Forest. Thousands of vehicles turn off the highway onto it year-round, and he says that traffic has created a speed problem that town officials and WYDOT have known about for years.
Traffic volume is the other half. A WYDOT count on July 30, 2026, recorded 3,674 vehicles through Alpine in both directions over 24 hours, the Star Valley Independent reported. The town's May 2026 existing-conditions analysis notes that US-89 and US-26 carry both local and through traffic, and it flags a lack of sidewalks and a need for more and better pedestrian crossings along US-89.
That combination makes Greys River Road the hardest turn in town. Forest traffic waits for gaps in a highway that serves both Alpine and travelers passing through, at a spot with few protected places to walk. One resident told Cowboy State Daily that pulling out of Greys River Road "can be such a struggle sometimes, especially during rush hours."
What Went Into the Pavement on September 22
The temporary layout is made of removable materials. The town lists these elements:
- A temporary roundabout configuration
- New pavement markings
- Plastic bollards
- Marked crossings
- Ongoing observation of traffic operations and safety
Green also described rubber bumpers and an approach that bends traffic slightly before it enters the circle.
The most common complaint is the circle's size, and Green agrees with it. "This one is definitely small, but the only way to test a roundabout was to put one in the current three-lane highway," he said, adding that a permanent roundabout "would be much larger." A 2023 town rendering of a permanent design shows a much bigger footprint.
The town's design review addressed larger vehicles in advance. It found that school and tour buses could get through without driving over the central island. Some vehicles towing trailers may need more room and roll over part of the island, which is why the project uses mountable curbing. The town says it is watching how passenger cars, RVs, buses, emergency vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and snowplows use the intersection. Because the test runs from late September into mid-October, it covers the end of the busy forest-access season but not a full winter of plowing.
Opening day went badly. The contractor had one day to remove the old striping and paint the new layout, and rain delayed the painting by about three hours. Flaggers were still directing traffic at 6:30 p.m., during the evening commute. "I totally understand their frustration, and I apologize that that happened," Green said.
The 15 mph Observation and the Formal Data
A week into the test, Green said he saw drivers slowing to about 15 miles per hour to get around the circle. Compared with the 35 mph floor WYDOT has defended, that is a big difference. It is also the mayor's own observation, not a measurement.
The formal data comes from elsewhere. Kimley-Horn, the engineering firm the council hired on March 3, 2026, to write Alpine's Transportation Safety Action Plan and run the Highway 89 demonstration, is doing the formal data collection and review, while WYDOT monitors the effects on US-89 informally, a WYDOT spokesperson told the Star Valley Independent. No results from the demonstration had been published as of early October. The town's project page says plainly: "No decisions about permanent improvements have been made."
Some critics would prefer a traffic signal. Green says traffic engineers and WYDOT told him they "would much rather install a roundabout than a traffic light," and he called a signal a non-starter at this intersection. That fits the friction argument. A signal manages turns but leaves the open highway on either side unchanged. A circle slows every vehicle that passes through.
Who Paid for It, and How Much
The money came from a grant application filed three years ago. On June 20, 2023, the town authorized an application for $240,000 in federal Safe Streets and Roads for All funding and set aside at least $60,000 as the required 20 percent local match. The town's March 2026 recap says that match came from Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds, so the $300,000 project costs the town's own budget nothing.
Town Administrator Hovorka told the council that $40,000 of the $300,000 went to the demonstration and $260,000 to the Kimley-Horn contract. The September 1 minutes also describe a demonstration budget of about $44,000: roughly $26,000 for the installer and $18,000 for other materials. The council approved up to $25,663.03 for Idaho Traffic Safety on a 4-1 vote, with Councilmember Scaffide voting no.
The roundabout is one piece of a bigger plan. Kimley-Horn engineer Jacob Farnsworth told the Star Valley Independent in August that the safety work had identified 12 improvement projects around town.
The Survey Matters as Much as the Bollards
Reaction has been strong. Green said there has been "a ton of comments," many calling roundabouts stupid and the planners idiots, and that he "never thought that people would show so much negativity toward roundabouts in general." Other drivers have been positive. Feedback included the comment that it "flowed through just as it should and worked well." Green asked for patience and for "real feedback after the three weeks it's there, not the first 24 hours."
Comments on social media don't count toward the town's evaluation. The community survey does. Its 11 questions ask about:
- Your connection to Alpine
- How often you use the roundabout, and how you get through it: driving, walking or biking
- How easy it is to use
- Whether it feels safer and flows better than the old intersection
- What it's like on foot
- Whether you'd support a permanent roundabout, and why
- How comfortable you are with roundabouts in general
- Open comments
Neither the survey nor the town page gives a closing date. The circle is gone after October 14, though, and answers based on recent use will carry the most detail. The questions about safety and pedestrians speak to the friction argument. The question about comfort with roundabouts in general shows the town wants to separate dislike of this small temporary circle from objections to roundabouts as a design.
What Happens After October 15
On October 15 the bollards are gone, the old striping is back, and drivers at Greys River Road face the same left turn they had in September. The steps after that are slower:
- Kimley-Horn finishes its data review alongside WYDOT's informal monitoring.
- The results feed into the Transportation Safety Action Plan with the town's other identified projects.
- Any permanent design needs WYDOT's coordination and approval.
- Building it would require federal money. Green told the Star Valley Independent that a permanent roundabout would likely be many years away.
No council date has been set to decide on a permanent roundabout. The next scheduled regular meetings are October 6, and November 2, which was moved from November 3 because of the general election. Even at its fastest, the town's path to a slower US-89 runs through data a consultant is collecting now and answers residents can submit through the survey before memories of the test fade.
Bryan Lyster has been watching Alpine's growth along the Snake River Canyon corridor since 2007. If you'd like to talk about how changes on US-89 and Greys River Road might affect a home or parcel near the intersection, JH Living is glad to help. Let's Connect.
