New Traffic Plan for LCC Closures

[Marc_C]

No more lining up at the gate at the mouth of LCC during canyon closures.

Forget about lining up at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon at dawn on a powder day if the canyon is closed for avalanche control or plowing. This winter, the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office plans to send a text message right to your cell phone, alerting you when the road to Snowbird and Alta ski resorts will open.

The service is part of a new strategy to break up traffic jams that can plague the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon - and exasperate nearby residents.

Instead of blocking the road at the mouth of the canyon, the Sheriff's Office this winter will use two roadblocks
on Wasatch Boulevard: one at the turnoff to the La Caille restaurant and a second at 9800 South. Residents will be issued passes so they can go past the barriers and get to their homes between Wasatch Boulevard and the canyon's entrance.

But skiers and boarders will have to pull off the road and park or drive around in circles: No more sitting in line on Little Cottonwood Canyon Road.

Salt Lake County Undersheriff Scott Carver said communicating with resort-bound motorists will be essential to the plan's success. His office is working with the Utah Department of Transportation, which handles canyon avalanche control and road closures, to ensure accurate and up-to-date information is provided not only via text messages, but also on new road signs and Alta's AM 530 station.
<snip>
In the next few weeks, the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office will be signing up - at http://www.slsheriff.org - those interested in receiving text-message alerts about Little Cottonwood Canyon closures.

Full article at:
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10982575?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com

 

[hayduke]

"But skiers and boarders will have to pull off the road and park or drive around in circles"

does anyone with a brain have any input to these plans?
there arent very many "local residents" east of wasatch, and if they are heading for work they are going west and would not be affected at all.

 

[rfarren]

Great, so there will be a traffic jam further down! This is the stupidest thing they could do. So, instead of just turning your car off, waiting for the road to open at the former roadblock, you'll turn your car off and wait for 9800 to open, afflicting another neighborhood and road, closer to where there are more businesses and more traffic. I suppose they are just trying to get more people to ski the other cottonwood canyon.

 

[Marc_C]

Great, so there will be a traffic jam further down!

There already is. On some powder days, the line of cars backs-up onto I-215, waiting to get off the 6200 South exit.

This is the stupidest thing they could do.

And you're basing that comment on, perhaps, your extensive knowledge of the area and the local traffic patterns?

So, instead of just turning your car off, waiting for the road to open at the former roadblock, you'll turn your car off and wait for 9800 to open, afflicting another neighborhood and road, closer to where there are more businesses and more traffic.

The huge difference is that the roads are significantly wider at the new roadblocks, where it is far easier to pull off the road and wait.

 

[Marc_C]

there arent very many "local residents" east of wasatch, and if they are heading for work they are going west and would not be affected at all.

No, not very many - a thousand perhaps, maybe 1500 - but all the roads there are narrow 2-lanes with no real place to pull off the road, especially when snow covered. Lining up for the canyon to open does effectively make the two key roads only one lane. Lacking any other solution, the new roadblock locations do make a fair bit of sense for the neighborhood involved and certainly don't inconvenience skiers any more than the old closure location.

 

[Skidog]

Doesnt look like theyre going to mess with the way I access the canyon.

Least not from that graphic unless im missing something.

M

 

[Marc_C]

Doesnt look like theyre going to mess with the way I access the canyon.

Least not from that graphic unless im missing something.

You're missing something! You access it the same way I do - we'll now be stopped at 98th and Wasatch Blvd., 2 miles from the mouth of the canyon.

 

[Sharon]

Doesn't look like it will affect us much at Amy's place.

 

[Admin]

Doesn't look like it will affect us much at Amy's place.

Can you or Skidog read a map? :roll:

:lol:

Yes, you'll be blocked a half mile toward LCC from Amy's place.

 

[Marc_C]

Doesn't look like it will affect us much at Amy's place.

As I've mentioned, other than that specific neighborhood at the mouth of the canyon, the location of the new roadblocks really won't affect anyone too terribly much. Skiers will just be stopped and line up a few miles from the former roadblock, on roads where it's far easier to pull off to the side without blocking said road.

 

[salida]

I'll be able to see the traffic jam from my porch now. Go early or wait in line.