What Should Casper Call It? Wyoming Boulevard or Outer Drive? [POLL]
Wyoming Boulevard? Outer Drive? Whichever you use to refer to this short stretch of Wyoming Highway 258 as, both are technically accurate - but a recent Facebook rant on the subject (from a friend of ours who used to make a living working on road signage around our fair city, no less) got us thinking. A generation or more of locals will likely always refer to it as "Outer Drive", which actually was the name at one point in time, years and years ago - but only for a year or less. The name was changed because it connected to the existing Wyoming Boulevard that ran past Mills.
Our friend's argument: When official State and County services, organizations like the National Weather Service, broadcasters, and more use "Outer Drive", particularly to warn of things like emergencies or road conditions - those newer to Casper may not have a clue where it is, nor will they see a street sign for it, or pull it up on their GPS. Potentially, this could be dangerous and miss the mark on communicating public safety issues.
I see his point - but can remember being new to Casper many years ago, and finding that even though admittedly a little confusing at first, the Outer Drive distinction made things a bit less so, eventually. Wyoming Boulevard covers a lot of ground - "Outer Drive" immediately let me know that it was the portion that runs the base of the mountain.
What's your opinion, and what do you call it? Should we stick with the official name, or is Outer Drive acceptable? Take the poll below and let us know.