SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – With a wilder winter than years past, UDOT is close to exceeding its snow removal budget for the year.
UDOT Spokesperson John Gleason said, "It's been a long winter. We've been hammered just like everybody else, but we're actually in line with what we'd thought we'd be."
Salting and clearing the highways has been a fulltime job for UDOT. Its budget this year is $23.3 million, but they've already spent $19.5 million and winter's not over yet.
"It's pretty close, but we're actually in good position right now,” explained Gleason. “We're in line with our projections."
Interestingly enough, one thing that's saving UDOT’s budget is where the snow has fallen.
"What's unique about this year is our valley crews have been out more than normal, now our mountain crews, that's the exact opposite,” explained Gleason. “They haven't received as much snow as they usually do so that's actually evened things out and it's good for our bottom line."
So what happens if Mother Nature decides to dump on us a few more times? Well first UDOT would pull from different parts of their department to cover the additional costs and then they would delay projects.
Gleason said, "As a very last resort we could go to the legislature to ask for additional funding but that would be after every possibility was exhausted."
