Have you ever gotten a ticket for bypassing a Wyoming Port of Entry?

7a-7p except weekends and Holidays.. so says the signage

 

When I ran the NW Sundance would always bring me in. The POE in Gillette I honestly thought it was inactive. I never observed any traffic in the area .

 

Usually come up 585 and head for SD, I'll be in high gear in time to go by Sundance EB at full speed!

Wyoming did change the signage a few years back, we never stopped at an outbound port (except Sheridan) but one of our guys did get flagged down EB at Lusk after the signs changed and asked, "why wasn't he stopping?"

 

I cut through SE Montana whenever I head to South Dakota to bypass those #### Wyoming ports. All two lane, but also two less scales to go by. It’s two lane unfortunately, but it’s not like Wyoming has nice interstates anyway.

 

I was always told Gillette is mandatory. If you come in from the SO. on 59, no matter what you are supposed to go out of route to hit it if open, honestly, I can't recall the last time I did. If you are on 90, I was told it was optional for EB, but WB was mandatory. But, then another time I was told it was only mandatory if you were delivering in that area. Sheridan is a whole different story, it's a combined scale, if it's open and you don't have prepass, you are supposed to stop, regardless of direction. Casper, I rarely stop there, even when open, but, I did have a trooper chase me down last winter when I didn't stop. I delivered to a place So. of the scale, when I left, I made a right, made another right, and headed towards 25. Trooper exiting 20/26 came after me, asked why I didn't stop, I said I forgot. He made me turn around and go back.

BTW, the fine for dodging a scale in Colo. was $156 last time I got one.

 

story?

 

Picking up a dropped trailer in a residential area of Monument, Colo., behind the SB scale. The directions my dispatcher gave me, as given to her by the customer, as used three days earlier by a coworker when dropping the trailer, had us get off the highway at the exit N. of the scale, make a right, go down the road, make a left and come down, and back into the cul de sac in front of the house vs coming in from the south and making a very difficult turn. I followed the instructions, they were paving I25, state trooper on the entrance ramp saw me exit and make a right, he chased after me, I showed him the directions I was given. He said I needed to go to the port first. He didn't write me up, but he called ahead, when I got to the port a few minutes later, he wrote me up, and had a local cop follow me to the residence, using the main road. Funny thing was, when the cop showed up, and the POE guy told him what was up, he told the POE guy that there was no way I could safely access the trailer from that direction. POE told cop to mind his own business. Bobtail, I almost took out 2 mailboxes getting to the trailer. Local cop told me to go out the way I was supposed to, he would follow me, and if the cop gave me a hard time he would back me up. Which he did. Company paid the POE ticket.

 

I went into Wyoming for my first time in December. Got in there on a Sunday, and didn't hit an open port till Casper Monday afternoon. Got the green light and kept on trucking.

I pulled into the scale in Sundance on my way in, but not a soul in sight, so I rolled through and didn't bother with other ones that were closed. For a state that wants drivers to "always report" when entering the state, they sure don't open the scales all that often.

 

Beginning of this year, Wyo. changed the hours of all scales. I think the only ones that are open 24/7 is Sheridan and Evanston, most all the others are 5am to Midnight or 7am to 7pm

 

I've been looking at Sheridan on Trucker Path. Appears they close from 10pm to 5am, based on the history