SALT LAKE CITY — A winter that is producing abundant snow is also delivering a massive bill to the Utah Department of Transportation.
From the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1, 2022 through February 14, 2023 UDOT spent $10,583,947 on materials used to deice the state’s roads.
During that same time frame a year ago, UDOT spent $5,045,062 on deicing materials.
“That just speaks to a tremendous winter it has been,” said John Gleason, the public relations director for UDOT.
This winter, UDOT snowplows have logged 3,644,532 miles compared to 2,164,078 miles during the winter of 2022.
It has been a busy winter with consistent snowfall.
According to UDOT, the total cost for snow removal this season, including labor and materials, is around $26 million.
That number eclipses the year’s $24 million snow removal budget.
The department has a plan to account for the expensive winter.
“Everything that we do to plow the roads, that money comes from the maintenance budget,” Gleason said. “What we can do is shift less-essential projects to the next fiscal year – in this case in July.”
That means projects scheduled for the spring that do not present a safety concern will likely be delayed until the budget resets in July.
The higher than budgeted cost of snow removal will not impact critical maintenance projects or snow removal for the remainder of the winter.
“The priorities really are plowing roads and filling those potholes,” Gleason said. “That's the priority is making sure people can get to where they are going safely.
