Dear editor:

More than a year ago, the Wyoming Department of Transportation was informed of three errors in the posted signage for the Beartooth Highway. The most embarrassing was a newly installed sign that read: “Beartooth American All Road.”  It should have read: “Beartooth All-American Road.” This dyslexic sign was placed along Wyo. Highway 296 near its junction with U.S. Highway 212.

Two older Beartooth Highway signs are positioned along Wyo. Highway 120 as it approaches its junction with Wyo. Highway 296 north of Cody. Both of these signs have the wording in the correct order but lack the hyphen between “All” and “American,” and one of the two has a misprinted Beartooth Highway logo.

When Cody residents confronted WYDOT with the errors, WYDOT spokesman Cody Beers was quoted by the Tribune as saying: “[It] should be fixed next week”, adding: “We appreciate people who have a lot of time to monitor and critique us.”

But before the signage could be replaced with corrected versions, the dyslexic sign and two other nearby highway signs were stolen. Upon hearing of the thefts, Mr. Beers said: “These people from Cody were embarrassed by signs with typos. Now the signs are stolen and gone. I wonder what they all think about that.”

The three stolen signs were eventually replaced, but the other two erroneous Beartooth Highway signs along Wyo. Highway 120 remain — more than a year later.

As one of “These people from Cody” I can tell you I am still embarrassed. Installing dyslexic road signage is inexcusable. Taking more than a year to correct poor punctuation shows indifference on the part of WYDOT. After all, how difficult is it to print up hyphen stickers and affix them to the current signs? And don’t forget about the misprinted logo. 

This lack of pride in workmanship can be seen by the whole world and it reflects badly on all Wyoming residents. I think I would rather have no signage than embarrassing signage.  

Ross Gorman

One of “These People” from Cody