UDOT catches a small break with a lull in major snowstorms

SALT LAKE CITY — The lull in the recent snow storms gives Utah’s road crews time to catch a small break and repair equipment.

“We’ve had some pretty intense storms and a lot of them this year already,” said John Gleason, Utah’s Department of Transportation spokesman.

He said they typically budget to have crews out clearing the roads from October to March or April, with a budget of 24 million dollars each year. So far, UDOT has spent 15 million of that.

“We are higher than usual right now at this point in the winter,” Gleason explained.

At this point last winter, UDOT had spent half the budget, at just 12 million.

UDOT snowplow crews cover more than 648,000 miles in December

“Anybody who lives through the weather patterns that we have seen understands that we have had storm after storm this year,” Gleason said. “Already this season, our plow crews have traveled more than one and a half million miles on our roads.”

That’s enough to plow from Bear Lake to St George over three thousand times. That’s a total of 63,697 hours.

“If we do happen to go over budget, we have some contingency funds that we can use, and if we go incredibly over budget, then we can make the determination to push off some of the less essential responsibilities in maintenance for the next fiscal year,” Gleason explained.

He wants everyone to know that when it snows, crews will always be out making the roads safe, no matter the price cap.

“Never have to worry about us taking a break from snow plowing,” Gleason expressed.