Skiers are bringing something surprising to Utah’s traction law checkpoints

When Sgt. Michael Olsen took his position at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon at just after 8:30 a.m. on a recent Friday morning, he stared down two vehicular logjams. One, more than five miles long clogged Wasatch Boulevard — extending bumper to bumper all the way back to the exit off Interstate 215. Another tendril of mostly trucks, Subarus and SUVs stretched down Little Cottonwood Road and curled south toward Draper.

Between the planned avalanche blasting and the traction checks, drivers and passengers in both lines had been waiting two hours or more by the time they approached Olsen. Most had bad cases of powder fever, with Alta Ski Area and Snowbird minutes from opening the gates to a foot and a half of fresh snow. And Olsen was yet another obstacle in their way as he stood between lanes, eyeballing tires to make sure cars complied with the Utah Department of Transportation’s traction law.

Rather than road rage and choice words, though, Olsen and his crew mostly got waves, smiles and the occasional offering of pastries.

UDOT’s effort to increase the enforcement of the traction law in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon this season has had its bumps in the road. Still, both the agencies enforcing the law and the majority of skiers and snowboarders who use the canyons say they believe both the checks and driving conditions in the canyons are moving in the right direction.

“The feedback we’re getting is awesome. People are loving it,” said Olsen, who runs the Sandy Police traction crew. “We still get thumbs up and waves and thank yous by many, many cars as they pass us. They really appreciate us.

“Even if they’re having to wait in line for a while, by the time they get to us, they’re still happy because they know if we weren’t there, someone would slide off and then they’d be in a gridlock for an hour or two [more].”

Why is UDOT increasing traction law enforcement?

Last season, UDOT fielded a cacophony of complaints about cars, ill-equipped for slick and snowy conditions, sliding out and snarling traffic in the canyons for hours on end. It had become a regular occurrence, especially on weekends and even on days when UDOT lit up the signs alerting drivers that the traction law was in effect. The law, which applies only when UDOT deems conditions dangerous and lights the traction signs, prohibits vehicles from traveling certain roads unless they are equipped with snow tires, chains or other specific traction devices.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported last March that enforcement of the law to be spotty at best and dangerous at worst. Data from the Utah Highway Patrol showed hundreds of crashes in the canyons each winter.

In response, UDOT announced in October that it would be intensifying its traction monitoring this ski season. Using some $400,000 that state legislators earmarked last spring for traction measures, the agency contracted with the Sandy and Cottonwood Heights police departments and the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office to use their officers to run traction checks at the bottom of both Cottonwood canyons. The contract runs throughout the ski season, according to Jake Brown, UDOT’s district engineer for the canyons.

Sandy Police have been involved in about 20 checks at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon this season, Olsen said. During each check, he said, officers turn around between 20-40 cars.

“We’ve had 60 cars that we’ve kicked out, and not just passenger cars,” Olsen said. “We’ll kick out semis, we’ll kick out box trucks. We’ll kick out anybody that doesn’t meet the requirements to go up.”

If vehicles are carrying chains, drivers can pull off into the park and ride to install them before being allowed up the canyon. Drivers without proper traction are typically directed to nearby Ski Bus stops.

Every traction check is different, Brown said, and crews have been tinkering with the system throughout the winter to make it as efficient as possible.

When Little Cottonwood Canyon, which has 64 slide paths, is closed for avalanche mitigation like it was last Friday, Olsen drives down the queue looking for traction troublemakers. He’ll turn those without proper tires around. Then, when the canyon opens, the first 600 or so cars can enter unfettered. They then create a natural glut on the two-lane State Route 210. And by the time the rest of the cars begin to pass through the checkpoints, Olsen said, traffic is already at a crawl. Typically, drivers don’t even have to slow down to allow officers to examine their tires or check for the Cottonwood Canyons sticker — a free seasonal windshield sticker issued by UDOT that signifies a vehicle had its traction checked at a local tire store.

“I think they do a good job,” Brown said. “They do have to check tires, and there are some delays with that, but I think the delays are less than if we would have people in the canyon with unprepared vehicles with bad tires, flipping and sliding for two or three miles and not going anywhere.”

Empirical evidence that the crackdown is making the canyons safer won’t be available until the ski season ends. However, a preliminary survey conducted by UDOT shows the majority of canyon travelers believe it’s working.

‘It hasn’t been that good in a decade.’

When the first snow of the season arrived in the Wasatch Mountains last November, so did the first traction checks. The combination of thousands of people trying to reach the Big Cottonwood Canyon resorts — the only two ski areas open in the Wasatch — and the slowdown partially caused by the checks created a miles-long bottleneck in all directions.

Snowboard content creator Sean Zahm of Salt Lake City captured drone footage of the congestion. He wondered aloud in the post on his Instagram account whether the checks were really going to make things better.

Skip ahead four months, and Zahm is a believer.

“Oh my god, it hasn’t been that good in a decade,” he said Monday. “This has been the best season as far as checking, and it gives me peace of mind.”

He’s not alone in his opinion. UDOT put out an online survey in early January and shared the more than 1,550 responses with The Tribune. Of those, 70% either agreed or strongly agreed that enforcement of the traction law improves transportation and ensures “more vehicles are prepared for winter driving conditions.”

What’s more, respondents gave that nod of support despite reporting they have experienced significant traffic delays due to the checks. Nearly a third of 210 travelers and almost half of those going up 190 to Solitude and Brighton said they experienced delays of 30 minutes or more getting up the canyons on days that traction checks were in place.

Results of a second UDOT survey, which wrapped up Feb. 23, were not immediately available.

Zahm said he considers sitting for hours in his car in return for less worry about drivers in the canyon an acceptable tradeoff.

“My personal road rage comes from you being unprepared in the canyon,” he said, “meaning you can hit me and hurt both of us. You can get yourself stuck then you ruin everyone’s day. So to me, those two elements have really been what the [increased checks] stopped.”

Several issues still remain, though.

One, of course, is the line of cars clogging roads and cutting off access to neighborhoods. Another is that police still have few good options for how to deal with vehicles with poor traction when they attempt to go down the canyons in adverse conditions. Olsen pointed out that it’s easier and likely less disruptive for such a car to continue downhill than to try to turn around. Plus, he said, while officers could maybe pull one or two onto a shoulder until conditions improve, they can’t do that with 40 or 50 cars.

A bill recently passed by state legislators seeks to address the latter concern. Introduced by Rep. Gay Lynn Bennion, D-Cottonwood Heights, the bill clarifies that UDOT can preemptively enact the traction law when the forecast calls for snow. It also clarifies that a traction violation is an infraction that can carry a fine of up to $750. According to Bennion, confusion about those aspects of the traction rule has created some hesitancy in enforcing it.

The bill has been sent to Gov. Spencer Cox. If signed, Brown said UDOT will evaluate the law and make changes to enforcement as warranted, though likely not until next season.

As for the red snake — the pet name for the line of tail lights going up and down the canyons most winter mornings and evenings — it appears to have found a new home in the roads leading to the canyons.

One of the recurring suggestions made in the UDOT survey for dealing with it was to create a designated lane, akin to an HOV lane, for vehicles with Cottonwood Canyon stickers. The agency distributed nearly 22,000 stickers this season before inspections ended Feb. 28. Of those who responded to UDOT’s survey, 82% of those who had or planned to get stickers said they were motivated by the increase in traction checks.

“There needs to be special lanes that allow buses & stickered cars to bypass somehow. Maybe RFID scans so we don’t need officers to stand there,” suggested one respondent, who said they mostly travel Little Cottonwood Canyon and have a canyons sticker.

“Less accidents up the canyon is a good thing though so I applaud the efforts, a work in progress is better than none at all.”

One issue with that, however, is that most of both canyons and the southern section of Wasatch Boulevard are one lane in each direction. Officers, therefore, have little runway for creating a passing lane.

Brown said no amount of officers and checkpoints is likely to make the snake go away.

“It’s going to be a constant problem of overcrowding,” he said, “due to the popularity of the canyons and the amount of people in the valley.”

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