Last winter's nationwide road-salt shortage is spilling into this season, driving up prices and forcing some cities to skimp.

The home of the Great Salt Lake, however, is much better positioned to weather the coming storms. Utah has 100,000 tons -- at least half a winter's supply -- already on hand.

The Utah Department of Transportation struggled to keep up last year and wound up adding millions of dollars to its road-clearing budget by winter's end. The state learned its lesson and filled the storage sheds during the summer, with a contract that locks in affordable prices for reloads from in-state suppliers.

"We got ahead of this crunch," UDOT maintenance engineer Richard Clarke said Monday. "Other states are coming to Utah trying to buy salt at any cost."

That cost is escalating fast, partly because last winter's shortfall left many states and municipalities with no stockpile. It's a problem especially pronounced in the Midwest. LaPorte County, Ind., has half its normal winter supply and already has had three companies refuse to bid on supplying more because of the shortage.

"The driving public may be the ones who suffer on this," LaPorte County highway superintendent Robert Young told The Associated Press.

The problem started with near-record use last winter after epic storms socked the Northeast and Midwest. Some Midwestern cities struggling to restock are paying $100 or more per ton.

Last winter was snowy in the Rockies, too, but Utah bought ahead over the summer and is paying just $35 a ton, Clarke said. The state also benefits from low shipping costs because all of its suppliers procure salt in-state, at the Great Salt Lake or a Sevier County mine.

Salt Lake City is paying even less. Its contracted price increased from $16.25 last winter to $19.50 this winter, city streets director Parviz Rokhva said. The city has 5,000 tons, or enough for 10 typical winter storms, with the option for more at the same price.

To be safe, the city will reorder whenever its supply drops to 2,000 tons, Rokhva said. Resupply took longer than usual last winter because of the extra demand.

Utah salt mining company Redmond Inc., which produces Real Salt and a road product that shares the table version's pinkish hue, is widening its operations this winter to keep up with demand in the Midwest, industrial operations manager Doug Anderson said. The company added Wisconsin, Indiana, Missouri and Illinois to the list of states it typically supplies.

bloomis@sltrib.com