Patrick Spence has benefited from the adjustments the Utah Department of Transportation made this season to its traction program. The skier’s truck is equipped with a Cottonwood Canyons sticker. And on several snowy mornings this winter, it has allowed him to bypass the traction checks being carried out by police officers and sheriff’s deputies at the mouth of both Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon.
When officers aren’t performing checks, however, he has continued to see cars struggle up or slip down the winding mountain highways.
Now, there’s a bill for that.
Rep. Gay Lynn Bennion, D-Cottonwood Heights, has proposed a bill for the upcoming legislative session that would add clarity to the traction law. Bennion’s bill, which was submitted Tuesday, would clean up the law’s language and emphasize that drivers who violate the law can be fined.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rep. Suzanne Harrison, D-Draper confers withRep. Gay Lynn Bennion, D-Cottonwood Heights, during floor time in the Utah House of Representatives, Feb. 9, 2021.
“People are in support of anything that can help things move smoother in those canyons. …,” Bennion said. “So I think we’ll see an improvement because of the sticker program and then this coming along to say this is enforceable. People will get pulled over if they’re not prepared.”
In 2018, UDOT adopted a traction rule meant to keep cars unfit to handle snowy mountain roads out of places like the Cottonwood Canyons. When the agency activates the flashing lights attached to traction signs, vehicles are not allowed to be on the road unless they have proper tires or traction devices. That essentially includes mud-and-snow or 3-peaks tires for four-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive vehicles or 3-peaks tires, chains or snow socks for two-wheel-drives.
Historically, both adherence to and enforcement of the law has been erratic.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Traffic at a standstill in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023.
In October, however, UDOT announced it planned to double down on enforcement of the traction law when it is in effect. State legislators allocated roughly $400,000 for safety and traction-related initiatives in the canyons during their previous session. Most of that money will go toward paying officers from the Sandy and Cottonwood Heights police departments and deputies from the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office to conduct traction checks near the base of both canyons.
To ward off congestion at the mouth of the canyons, UDOT encouraged frequent canyon drivers like Spence to pick up a free Cottonwood Canyons sticker. The agency envisioned it as an express pass of sorts through the traction checks for vehicles whose tires and devices had been verified as road-worthy by a local tire shop.
Spence said that plan mostly seems to be working.
“This is the first year I ever got one,” Spence, a 34-year-old who has been skiing in the Cottonwoods for about half his life, said of the sticker. “It sounded like they were actually going to do something about it this year. And they have been. I’m glad I did get it.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) People line up to participate in the free and voluntary Cottonwood Canyon’s sticker distribution kick-off event to comply with traction devices required during severe weather this winter on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. The Utah Department of Transportation is partnering with local law enforcement from Cottonwood Heights and Sandy to increase traction law enforcement.
But the rules surrounding the system were still a little squishy. At least that’s what managers of the four Cottonwood Canyons ski areas — Alta Ski Area, Brighton Resort, Snowbird and Solitude Mountain Resort — told Bennion when she visited with them this fall. They said the language was a little cloudy when it came to whether officers can penalize people for not adhering to the traction law.
“They wanted to make it very clear,” she said, “that it can be enforced.”
Bennion said she worked closely with UDOT and resort managers on the bill to edit and clarify the law’s language. The traction law is actually a rule, and UDOT determines what types of vehicles and traction devices comply with its rules. The law Bennion is working to tweak empowers UDOT to enforce its rules in regards to highway safety.
“If the traction law isn’t enforced, then people don’t obey it,” said Leif Elder, UDOT’s policy and legislative affairs director. “And if people don’t obey it, then safety can really go downhill. And that’s what we’re after is safety.”
If it keeps more accident-prone people out of the canyons, Spence said he’s all for making drivers pay for ignoring the traction law.
“It sucks for the tourists who are coming here. But they can’t be part of the problem,” Spence said.
“I’d love to see [patrollers] pull people over and turn them around and give them a ticket,” he added. “Or, if they have traction devices on them, make them put them on but still give them a ticket.”
An infraction is punishable by a fine of up to $750.
Last season, just under 6,500 vehicles received Cottonwood Canyons stickers. So far this season, UDOT reported Wednesday, the agency has given out just over 18,000 stickers. That includes an agreement with all but two rental agencies based out of the Salt Lake International Airport to put stickers on vehicles in their fleets that are equipped to handle the varied conditions within the canyons.
A list of tire shops that will conduct traction checks, as well as information on how to comply with the traction law, is listed on UDOT’s website. Despite the agency resupplying shops up to three times to meet demand, agency spokesperson John Gleason said some stores continue to experience shortages. UDOT recommends drivers call the location they plan to visit to confirm stickers are available. They can also email cottonwoodcanyons@utah.gov to notify the agency of shops where stickers are out of stock or in short supply.
