my letter
Also, here is a sample letter just in case any of you want to copy/paste any of the arguments.
Hello Mr. Madsen,
I live here in Lehi in Senate District 13 and as such you are my representative in the state senate. I'm writing you this letter today in response to an article reported by KSL recently.
http://www.ksl.com/?sid=28234520&ni...plows-groomed-road&fm=home_page&s_cid=queue-6
The article indicates that UDOT has elected to heed the wishes of a very small vocal minority located in Tabiona and Hanna instead of thousands of snowmobilers located all across the Wasatch Front. First of all, I think this is a big mistake. The Wolf Creek Pass trail section is an integral part of the most impressive network of snowmobiling trails Utah has to offer. The network extends from Bear River Services near Wyoming clear down through Strawberry and close to Price. Making Hwy. 35 a plowed road is like building the transcontinental railroad from New York to Wyoming and then from California through Nevada, and just electing to not make that final link right in the middle in Utah. This trail area truly is one of the crown jewels of snowmobiling in Utah, and that could be placed in tremendous jeopardy without the critical link in the middle of Wolf Creek Pass.
As a snowmobiler, and a concerned citizen overall, I am asking for your help to offset the very small group of folks who seemed to have controlled this maneuver. At a time when tax dollars are so scarce and so badly needed in so many other locations, it is hard for me to fathom the concept of the state spending money trying to keep a road plowed at 9,500 feet elevation just so that a few people who live in Tabiona can save a few minutes getting home from Heber.
I would also like to point out, that really, that is what this fight is about on the other end; a few minutes saved on a commute. The KSL article cites John Gleason as saying this is about safety and citing experiences of cars trying to get up and over the pass in spite of the snowpack. This is completely a bogus argument. There are gates at both sides of the pass, closer to the 7,000 foot level that can and should be closed in the winter. If safety is really the priority here, I guarantee, the state, and Mr. Gleason can ensure safety better by simply putting the usual lock on those gates. I'm pretty sure cars won't be sliding off the snowpacked road at 9,500 feet if UDOT has the gates closed and locked up like they are supposed to be down at 7,000.
Just how high is 9,500 feet? Just how much of an expense and battle is it going to be to keep that road plowed and safe (yeah, right) at 9,500 feet? Here is some perspective.
Beaver Mountain, Powder Mountain, Wolf Mountain, Snowbasin, and Sundance all don't have a single ski lift that even gets up to 9,500 feet.
Deer Valley has one lift that get higher...by 70 feet. The Empire lift goes as high as 9,570 ft. elevation.
The Canyons, also only has one single lift that goes above 9,500 feet. The majority of the skiing of "The Greatest Snow on Earth" is done at an elevation lower than 9,500 feet.
The summit of I-80 at Parleys Canyon doesn't even hit 7,000 feet, and we all know how difficult that is to keep plowed and how unsafe it can become with a decent snowstorm.
Big Cottonwood Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon don't have roads that even make it as high as 9,000 feet. Think of the manpower required to keep those open in the winter as well as the tremendous safety risk they can be during any storm, even mild storms.
Highway 6 doesn't even reach 7,500 feet at Soldier Summit, and yet stories seem to abound on the news left and right about winter weather related problems on that road.
I could go on, but I think you get the point. 9,500 feet is snow territory when wintertime comes. That is just pure common sense. To incur the massive expense as well as the tremendous safety risks involved, not only to the commuters, but also to the state employees driving the plow at 9,500 feet is a tremendous undertaking. If the reward of this undertaking is getting to the top of the cottonwood Canyons to ski at Alta or Brighton, then it is understandable for the state to undergo that expense and risk. Ski resorts create huge income streams for the state, and I'm sure that the money is paid back in tax revenue very easily. Somehow, I don't think the tax revenue generated by a small number of people saving a few minutes getting from Heber to Tabiona is going to create quite the same payback.
If there is anything you might be able to do during the next legislation session to try to remedy this tremendous violation of common sense principles, it would be appreciated by thousands of snowmobilers throughout the state as well as all citizens who don't have to see their tax dollars get dumped down the drain to such a waste of a concept.
Thanks for your consideration.
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