This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
It's a sure sign that winter is almost here: seasonal highways throughout Utah are starting to close.
State Road 65 in East Canyon and State Road 39, the Monte Cristo Highway, are both scheduled to close this weekend.
"Both should be closed by 6 a.m. Monday," said Utah Department of Transportation spokesman Adan Carrillo. He adds that the exact timing depends on the weather, and early snow could bring an earlier closure.
The American Fork Canyon Alpine Loop, State Road 92 from Mileposts 14 to 22.5, is already closed.
Also closed is Guardsman Pass between Big Cottonwood Canyon, Park City and Midway. But Carrillo said UDOT and Wasatch County are negotiating possibly reopening it temporarily because of nicer-than-expected weather.
Motorists can check online whether seasonal highways are open through links at commuterlink.utah.gov.
Several other seasonal highways do not yet have scheduled closures.
They include: State Road 148 near Cedar Breaks National Monument; the Mirror Lake Highway, State Road 150; and the Mt. Holly Junction Road, State Road 153.
State Road 35, Wolf Creek Pass, is scheduled to be open to snowmobiles only beginning Dec. 20.
Carrillo notes that high mountain roads often receive snow earlier and in greater amounts than in Wasatch Front valleys, so their closures may seem to come early "because what is happening up there is often quite different than down here."