Spring storm shuts down I-80, snarls travel near Laramie
I-80 shut down between Rock Springs and Laramie, leaving motorists stranded and cutting off Albany County’s main east-west route.
A late-spring snowstorm turned Interstate 80 into a dead stop between Rock Springs and Laramie, cutting off Albany County’s main highway link and stranding drivers for hours as southeast Wyoming struggled through whiteout conditions, drifting snow and power outages.
By late morning on May 18, WYDOT had closed I-80 in both directions between Rock Springs and Laramie, with a westbound rolling closure also in place between Cheyenne and Laramie. WYDOT expected the Rawlins-to-Laramie stretch to reopen between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. on May 19, while the Rawlins-to-Rock Springs segment was not expected to reopen until late that night, between 10 p.m. and midnight. More than 200 miles of the interstate were closed for most of the day, a disruption that hit commuters, freight carriers and anyone trying to move through Albany County toward the Front Range.
The National Weather Service office in Cheyenne issued a blizzard warning for part of the corridor, and conditions at Cheyenne Airport on May 18 showed how fast the storm worsened, with light snow, mist, temperatures around 34 degrees and visibility down to 2.5 miles. Later reporting said some stretches along I-80 picked up as much as 10 inches of snow, while WYDOT crews were clearing 4-foot drifts by noon. In the Snowy Range, anecdotal reports reached as high as 30 inches.
The storm’s impact stretched well beyond the pavement. A damaged power transmission line around 2 a.m. knocked out electricity in Rawlins, Sinclair and Wamsutter for most of the day, slowing WYDOT’s snow-clearing work because crews could not fuel equipment in Rawlins. Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken said the outage created a prolonged emergency response, even as the Rawlins hospital remained open for people who needed oxygen or power for medical devices and dispatchers helped arrange transport for those needing medical assistance.
Conditions on the highway were harsh enough to create more hazards for crews trying to reopen it. WYDOT said a snowplow was struck near the Wagonhound Rest Area between Arlington and Elk Mountain. One driver said she had been stuck for nearly six hours with only a quarter tank of gas left. For Albany County residents, the shutdown was a reminder that when I-80 closes, travel, deliveries and regional movement across southern Wyoming can grind down fast, with Laramie cut off from the state’s most important east-west artery until the storm finally passed.
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