Utah police will check skiers' tires in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon

Cottonwood Heights • A small, blue Subaru, already equipped with a ski rack, was pulled out of the October rain Thursday into one of two lines of cars passing through the Utah Department of Transportation maintenance shed in Cottonwood.

A tall man in a neon yellow “Cottonwoods Crew” vest knelt next to each tire. He looked them over one by one. Then he pulled out a small lesson. Placed on the tires, it consistently registered a tread depth of more than 5/32 of an inch. So he grabbed a UDOT snowflake sticker from a stack on a nearby table, peeled off the protective film, stuck it in the car's windshield and sent the driver on his way.

The entire process took little more than a minute. It could save drivers hours in the Cottonwood Canyons.

The decals are a key cog in UDOT's multi-agency plan to increase tire traction law enforcement in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon. The $400,000 initiative, formally unveiled Thursday, also includes introducing traction controls in both canyons – temporarily ahead of storms – and increasing tickets for illegally parked cars.

By reducing accidents, slide-outs and stuck cars, involved agencies hope to improve traffic flow on the often-congested State Route 190, which leads to Brighton and Solitude Mountain Resort, and SR 210, the avalanche-prone access to Alta Ski Area and Snowbird. Still, they warn that powderhounds should expect delays until they resolve the issues.

“We ask people to be patient. Be kind to each other,” said Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera. “This is new and we’re not trying to stop people. We’re trying to make sure they get to the canyons quicker.”

Little Cottonwood Canyon riders will encounter the traction control point about a mile up the canyon at Gate A. Officers are expected to complete their inspections while the cars remain on the road, said Jake Brown, UDOT's road operations manager for Cottonwood Canyons. Those who do not have sufficient traction will be rerouted to the dirt climber area on the north side of the road and sent back into the canyon. Brown said chains, snow socks and other temporary traction devices can be installed in the Alpenbock Loop parking lot at the base of the canyon.

Big Cottonwood Canyon, Brown said, “is a little more difficult.” When traffic backs up through that canyon, it clogs the main intersection of Fort Union and Wasatch boulevards. He said the checkpoint will initially be positioned at the avalanche gate near the mouth of the canyon, but its location will likely need to be adjusted.

“Trying to find the sweet spot,” Brown said, “is going to be pretty big.”

The ski traffic, some of which reached into the city's neighborhoods, prompted officials to address traffic jams in the ravines. Sandy Mayor Monica Zoltanski said her phone was “hot” during the 2022-23 ski season when Utah recorded a record 903 inches of snowfall in Alta. Residents were upset that they had to leave their homes to drop off their children or go to work and were unable to return because traffic was backed up in the canyons in their neighborhoods.

On February 13, 2023, officials from Sandy, Cottonwood Heights, Salt Lake County and UDOT gathered to come up with a solution. A year later, lawmakers gave the plan some weight. They approved directive to use up to 2% of the state's Cottonwood Canyons Transportation Investment Fund for safety and traction initiatives in the canyons.

That amounts to about $400,000, according to UDOT Executive Director Carlos Braceras. Braceras said the Sandy and Cottonwood Heights police departments will each receive $180,000 to pay overtime to their officers working at the traction control points. The remaining $40,000 will go to Sheriff Rosie Rivera's Salt Lake County staff to increase patrols and ticketing of cars parked illegally in the canyons, also seen as a factor in slowing traffic.

“For a long time we just didn’t have the resources to issue tickets,” Rivera said, “and now we’ve made it a priority because we see the impact it has on public safety.”

This year, Braceras said UDOT will also experiment with preemptively requiring compliance with the Traction Act. A major criticism from canyon drivers was that UDOT only enacts the traction law when the roads become dangerous. At this point, there are already cars in the canyons, ill-equipped to handle slippery and snowy conditions and potentially disrupting traffic as they try to get out.

Braceras said his office doesn't want to “cry wolf” and diminish the effectiveness of the law by requiring traction devices when they aren't needed. However, the agency will take preventative measures if its fleet of meteorologists indicate that conditions are becoming dangerous.

“We’re going to screw it up,” Braceras admitted. “So there will be times when we say, 'We're going to implement the traction law,' and people will say, 'Wait a minute, it never snowed.' And there will be times when we wish we had.

“But we will get out even more than before.”

However, without the traction stickers, the whole effort could only cause more headaches for canyon riders.

A UDOT Cottonwood Canyons decal can be purchased for free at many tire and auto repair shops in the Salt Lake Valley now through February 28th. Eligible vehicles must meet UDOT's traction law standards, with one exception: Instead of 2/32-inch tread, vehicles must have 5/32-inch tread. Other requirements are as follows:

• Four-wheel drive vehicles: Mud and Snow (M+S) or “3-Peak Mountain Snowflake” (3PMSF, characterized by a snowflake within a mountain outline).

• Two-wheel drive and front-wheel drive vehicles: 3PMSF tires on all wheels or tracks, snow socks or other traction devices.

Cars with the sticker in their windshield are waved through the checkpoint without stopping. However, since both highways are two-lane roads, they still have to wait for cars in front of them without a vignette to be checked before they can drive up the mountain.

That's why officials stressed the importance of anyone who has even the slightest idea that they might be driving up the canyons this winter to get their vehicle checked. Some, including Solitude CEO Amber Broadaway, suggested they may offer perks for people who have a sticker.

“We will be working internally to figure out how to support our employees and recognize our visitors who receive the UDOT decal,” Broadaway said in an email to the Tribune. “We encourage all Cottonwoods winter mountain enthusiasts to support this important program.

“And,” she added, “we remain confident that all rental car agencies at SLC Airport will also participate in this program.”

On that front, Brown had good news. He said all but two car rental companies based at Salt Lake City International Airport planned to participate in the sticker program. Resorts would post participating rental car agencies on their websites, he said. However, it would be wise for visitors to Cottonwood Canyons Resort to ensure their vehicle has a sticker before removing it from the parking lot.

The entire process should take less than a minute.