Wyoming Highway 28
Wyoming Highway 28, also known as the South Pass Highway, is a state highway in Sweetwater, Sublette, and Fremont counties in Wyoming, United States, that connects Wyoming Highway 372, southeast of Fontenelle, with U.S. Route 287 / Wyoming Highway 789, south-southeast of Lander.
Route description
Sweetwater County
WYO 28 begins at a T intersection with WYO 372 in Sweetwater County, just north of a western arm of the Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge and roughly southeast of the census-designated place of Fontenelle.From its western terminus WYO 28 proceeds northwesterly as a two lane road for its entire length. After approximately, WYO 28 enters the Seedskadee NWR, crosses the Green River, and then leaves the Seedskadee NWR. At about along its route, and just after crossing the Big Sandy River, WY0 28 has its junction with U.S. Route 191 on the southern border of the CDP of Farson in Eden Valley.
East of its junction with US 191, WYO 28 very briefly passes through the southern edge of Farson before continuing roughly along the southern border of the CDP, with the meanders of Little Sandy Creek to the south. As WYO 28 crosses the Little Sandy Creek, it leaves Farson
CR 108 and continues for about before leaving Sweetwater County.
Sublette County
Upon leaving Sweetwater County, WWO 28 enters Sublette County. With the exception of a single paved turnoff, there are only a few unnamed dirt side roads along the section of WYO 28 that are within Sublette County. The nearly turnoff includes a historical marker and gravestone. Upon leaving Sublette County, WYO 28 enters Fremont County.Fremont County
After, it spurs north to Farson Little Sandy Road, leading to Big Sandy. It continues northeast out of Sweetwater County, cuts through a small corner of Sublette County and enters Fremont County. It crosses the Continental Divide at South Pass, one of the lowest passes on the continental divide, at. South Pass was used by settlers on the Oregon Trail. From there, there are spurs to the south leading to the South Pass Historic Site and Atlantic City. From there it curves north, travelling about until its merge with US 287, near Lander.History
WYO 28 generally follows the route followed by settlers on the Oregon Trail. A section of the highway due south of Lander and just north of the unincorporated community of Atlantic City was realigned around a new U.S. Steel mine in 1962. The realignment created sharp and narrow turns. Although the mine closed in 1983, the section was not removed until the original alignment was restored in 2005.The western end of WYO 28 was originally at the former U.S. Route 287 in Farson, but was extended southwest to the Fontenelle area in 1986 in response to increased soda ash shipments by truck, which required a paved road. The project was led by the Federal Highway Administration, which was granted the necessary right-of-way by the Bureau of Land Management ; the agreement between the two federal agencies required that any future wildlife fence on the corridor be approved by the BLM. A was proposed in 1991 to redirect herds of Sublette antelopes as well as livestock which had caused vehicular accidents since the extension opened. The BLM initially approved a plan with the Wyoming Department of Transportation to fence the corridor, but WYDOT later retracted the plan following public opposition and pushback from the Wyoming Department of Game and Fish. A series of eight warning signs was installed as an alternative to the fencing plan.