Forget about lining up at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon at dawn on a powder day if the canyon is closed for avalanche control or plowing. This winter, the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office plans to send a text message right to your cell phone, alerting you when the road to Snowbird and Alta ski resorts will open.

The service is part of a new strategy to break up traffic jams that can plague the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon - and exasperate nearby residents.

Instead of blocking the road at the mouth of the canyon, the Sheriff's Office this winter will use two roadblocks on Wasatch Boulevard: one at the turnoff to the La Caille restaurant and a second at 9800 South. Residents will be issued passes so they can go past the barriers and get to their homes between Wasatch Boulevard and the canyon's entrance.

But skiers and boarders will have to pull off the road and park or drive around in circles: No more sitting in line on Little Cottonwood Canyon Road.

Salt Lake County Undersheriff Scott Carver said communicating with resort-bound motorists will be essential to the plan's success. His office is working with the Utah Department of Transportation, which handles canyon avalanche control and road closures, to ensure accurate and up-to-date information is provided not only via text messages, but also on new road signs and Alta's AM 530 station.

The town of Alta recently expanded the signal range of the station, which provides updates on weather and traffic information.

The information also will be shared with car-rental companies and hotels that serve out-of-state skiers.

"It's going to be an ongoing project," Carver said, "but I think we'll have a better solution than we've had."

The plan, he noted, was developed after Sheriff Jim Winder met last week with about 70 residents, who were upset about the traffic problems near the canyon's entrance.

Complaints ranged from the danger of traffic blocking emergency vehicles' access to reports of drivers urinating or leaving trash in neighborhood yards.

"They [eager skiers] will do whatever they think they need to be first in line," said Marty Vandersteen, a resident and member of the Granite Community Council. Sometimes, he and his wife have been stranded for several hours within blocks of their home.

"We've seen school buses even coming down the wrong side of the road because they need to get the kids back to their homes," he said. "That puts the kids in jeopardy."

Vandersteen acknowledges it's worth a "little inconvenience" to live in "paradise" at the craggy gates to Little Cottonwood Canyon.

"But when [traffic] becomes a danger to our kids and to our families," he said, "it needs to be addressed."

rwinters@sltrib.com

What's next

In the next few weeks, the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office will be signing up - at www.slsheriff.org - those interested in receiving text-message alerts about Little Cottonwood Canyon closures.