Powderhouse Road Corridor Study

Powderhouse Road is located in north-central Cheyenne, Wyoming. It serves as a major north-south corridor between the commercial areas of Dell Range Boulevard and the residential areas of northern Cheyenne and Laramie County. It stretches 7.2 miles and passes through a wide range of land uses and jurisdictions. Inconsistencies in the type and quality of road, sidewalk, and drainage infrastructure have made it a top priority for planning of future phased construction as the Cheyenne area grows over the next few decades.

In the summer of 2022, the Cheyenne Metropolitan Planning Organization, or MPO, selected AVI, PC and Stantec to develop 35% conceptual design plans for the Powderhouse Road Corridor. A 35% conceptual design allows government agencies such as the City of Cheyenne, Laramie County, and WYDOT better prepare for the future as our community grows. It will help create budgets and timelines for future infrastructure work along the corridor and help identify potential challenges early on.

The main goal is simple - we want to generate a 35% conceptual design that establishes a common vision for future mobility along Powderhouse Road. We want the plan to address immediate challenges, as well as anticipate the needs of the future. We envision a Powderhouse Road that is built to safely accommodate users of various modes of transportation and that is scaled appropriately for our growing community.

Come back to this page regularly to see project updates, provide feedback, and participate in shaping the future mobility of Powderhouse Road.

Powderhouse Road varies greatly in condition and use throughout its 7.2 mile expanse. It passes through several different land uses, and different portions fall within the jurisdiction of the City of Cheyenne, Laramie County, and the State of Wyoming. The road is paved in some areas, and gravel in others. It crosses a flood zone at 7 different locations, so drainage is an important factor when designing new infrastructure.

Powderhouse Road begins as a paved two-way street with a continuous center turn lane at the intersection with Dell Range. It then continues north as a paved road with variable width shoulders until the intersection with Iron Mountain Road, at which point it becomes gravel.

The roadway could be widened to better accommodate people traveling along the corridor. However, the potential to widen is limited due to the terrain, drainage facilities, dry utilities, and the availability of right-of-way.

Sidewalks, bike lanes, and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accommodations are either absent or inconsistent throughout the corridor. Most of the existing sidewalk in the southern part of the corridor does not meet current development standards, while bike lanes only provide connectivity to limited areas.

People should be able to travel safely and comfortably along the corridor, whether they go by foot, bike, or car.

As vacant parcels along and near Powderhouse Road develop, drainage infrastructure will need to accommodate increases in impervious surfaces.

There are a number of existing culverts hiding along the corridor. Drainage analysis throughout the planning and design process will determine if and how the existing culverts will need to change.

We've broken the Powderhouse Road Corridor up into 3 different focus areas for the planning and design process. Within each area there are a number of priorities we have identified thus far given existing conditions, past transportation plans, and future development projects.

The first public open house was held on Wednesday, October 4, 2022 at the Cheyenne Berean Church. Over 100 people attended (wow!) and got to hear from the project team about existing conditions along the corridor, the three focus areas for the project, and what to expect as we move forward with the design process.

People also had the opportunity to share their feedback by writing or drawing directly on a 17 foot long print out of the corridor. We then distributed surveys that asked people to respond to a few short questions for each of the three focus areas. See below for results from the survey.

Following the first public open house, we distributed a survey that people had the option of filling out on paper or digitally via Survey Monkey. The survey asked respondents to rank the importance of different design considerations for the three different focus areas of the Powderhouse Road corridor. Respondents were also able to share additional feedback in two free response questions. A summary of results for questions 4-8 is below.

Q4: Considering Focus Area 1, Dell Range Boulevard to Storey Boulevard, please rate the importance of the following design considerations for Powderhouse Road:

Q5: Considering Focus Area 2, Storey Boulevard to Four Mile Road, please rate the importance of the following design considerations for Powderhouse Road:

Q6: Considering Focus Area 3, Four Mile Road to US Highway 85, please rate the importance of the following design considerations for Powderhouse Road:

Q7: If you could make one change to the Powderhouse Road Corridor, what change would you make?

There were 82 responses to this open-ended question. While each response was different, there were some clear themes that emerged. The most common mentions can be found in the table below along with a selection of quotes from responses to this question.

"I would like to add bike lanes. My kids like to ride around here, and a designated lane would make my wife and I feel better. Also with the school completion, traffic is going to get heavy. I think a traffic light would be great there. Even flashing most of the time, just solid during morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up."

"Totally unnecessary to connect Powderhouse to Hwy #85 since Yellowstone Rd. connects to Hwy #85."

"Push through to US 85 ASAP."

Q8: Do you have any additional ideas, information, or comments that you would like to share at this time?

There were 60 responses to this open-ended question. While each response was different, there were some clear themes that emerged. The most common mentions can be found in the table below along with a selection of quotes from responses to this question.

"From Four Mile on to 85 is County, which is the reason we moved out here. Keep it County! Pushing it through and changing it will just increase traffic. Not why we moved out here."

"I would love an alternate route to town for myself, employees, and teenage drivers. It would cut a significant amount of driving time and take it off Torrington Hwy, which has a significant amount of accidents."

"Bicycle path from Storey to Frontier Mall on east side. Bicycle lanes from Storey to Four Mile Rd."

People are concerned about the impact that the new Coyote Ridge Elementary School at Powderhouse and Carlson will have on traffic along Powderhouse Road. Many people expressed concern about how children will get safely to and from school, and about how traffic along the corridor would be impacted during drop-off and pick-up times. Lots of ideas were shared to help alleviate these issues, such as adding turn lanes or adding a traffic light.

Bicycle accommodations and pedestrian amenities are a high priority for residents, business owners, and other route users in the area. Accommodating bicyclists and pedestrians ranked favorably in all three focus areas presented in the first open house survey. Off all three areas, Focus Area 1 from Dell Range to Storey was the most favored for additional bike and/or pedestrian amenities.

The idea of connecting Powderhouse Road to US Highway 85 is either strongly supported, or strongly opposed, with these two factions being relatively equally divided. This topic was deeply debated at the open house, and several people chose to share their thoughts in the free response questions in the survey. From these conversations and survey results, it appears that a relatively equal number of people support the proposed connection as those who oppose the connection.

Learn about the project team's recommendations for improvements along the corridor and provide feedback.

Date: Wednesday, June 14, 2023 Time: 5-6:30 p.m. Location: Cheyenne Berean Church, 5716 Powderhouse Road Please RSVP to powderhouseroad@gmail.com

Come back to this page often to see the status of the project, respond to surveys, and find out about public meetings. Be sure to sign up for our email list below so you can get alerts about project updates.