EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah (ABC 4 News) - A Utah County woman is taking action to make a road she has to travels safer. She survived a head on collision that happened because of blowing snow.
Leslie Rasmussen and her five kids survived the crash and she's been advocating for snow fences along portions of S.R. 73 ever since. She says lives are at stake and she wants UDOT to take action to make that road safer.
In a picture Rasmussen sent ABC 4 News, it's not white out conditions but it shows just how tough driving on S.R. 73 can be when the wind blows the snow across the road. Rasmussen has been taking action to get snow fences since her head on crash last winter. She says, “A car was trying to turn and lost control in that six inches of snow and came right into my lane staring right at me.”
She says UDOT is good about keeping the roads clear during a storm but there can be serious problems days after. Rasmussen says, “They don't know when there's just blowing snow so they haven't responded well as far as clearing the road just due to blowing snow.”
Rasmussen and close to 100 other Eagle Mountain residents have emailed their concerns to UDOT with the mayor's support. Mayor Heather Jackson says there are several spots that need the snow fencing. In particular, S.R. 73 west of North Ranch and the hill through Saratoga Springs near 800 West. Jackson says, “If there's something that can be done to help with the snow blowing across there I think it would save some lives.”
We talked with UDOT officials who told us traditional snow fences aren't feasible. Scott Thompson says, “To put in permanent snow fencing requires a lot of purchase or right of way we don't currently have which is several million dollars in cost, even temporary solution is several hundreds of thousands of dollars and we just don't have that kind of money in our maintenance budgets right now.”
Understanding there is a problem; UDOT has opened up a satellite maintenance shed on Redwood Road that will be stocked with salt, three snow plows, and personnel throughout the winter. They'll also be installing fabric fencing that they say is more affordable and should help with the blowing snow.
In the coming months UDOT says they'll be establishing a phone number people can call if they're noticing that the blowing snow is a problem. That way they can alert their crews to plow the road.
