Wyler Tramway Could Have To Be Rebuilt And It Might Cost 7 Million Dollars

There is good news and bad news about the Wyler Aerial Tramway - it could open back up again, but it would almost certainly need to be rebuild at a cost of more than $7 million. A Colorado engineering firm, Tramway Engineering, Ltd., put together a nine-page report that outlined some pretty scary safety issues the Tramway would need to deal with to reopen.

The report says the left track brake was "not capable of stopping," so the track brakes would have to be replaced, but because the manufacturer that made the original tramway made customs parts is no longer in business, replacing them is not possible. The report also said the Tram was not designed to be used as it has been for almost 60 years, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which took over the Tram operations in 1997 has had their staff doing maintenance, but they aren't qualified to do that.

So why is the Wyler Tramway important enough to fight for? The Tram is one of those signature features that cities can point to when trying to entice people to come here. Is it Disneyland? No. But it is a cool thing to do and there are only 21 aerial tramways in the entire U.S. Hopefully the State and local officials can get it together and make sure we get an updated, safe tramway back in operation in El Paso.