Snow causes accidents, slows freeway traffic

New snow and "crashes all over the place" delayed Monday afternoon and evening commuters along the Wasatch Front, said Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Cameron Roden.

A 10-car pileup on northbound I-15 near the Layton Hills Mall completely halted already snarled traffic and backed up the commute for several miles in both directions. Two people from separate cars in the accident were transported to hospitals in serious condition, Roden said.

By 8 p.m. Monday, 206 accidents and slide-offs had been reported in Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties. No casualties were reported but 11 accidents had caused injuries, Roden said.

Dozens of other accidents spotted the valley. But it was icy interstate roads west of I-15, including I-80 and I-215, that Roden said were most troublesome to motorists who were "sliding off like crazy there."

Light flakes began falling about 2 p.m. in downtown Salt Lake City. By 2:30 p.m., it became heavy snowfall and began to stick to roadways.

The Utah Department of Transportation, which spends about $1 million statewide cleaning up each major storm, pretreated roads in preparation for the wafting flurries with a saltwater solution to keep the roads from icing up as fast as they normally would, said UDOT spokesman Adan Carillo.

More than 200 plows were at work on state roads between Provo and Ogden Monday.

"The slow-moving traffic kept us from plowing as fast as we wanted," Carillo said. "It's a real challenge to keep up with the snow when traffic is that bad."

Six plows geared with GPS tracking technology are being tested in Park City this winter. Within the next few years Carillo expects UDOT to host a public Web site with a real-time map showing where plows currently are and where they've recently been.

High temperatures only reached into the low 20s Monday, making even light snowfall hazardous on many roads.

Some of the worst conditions were on I-84 northbound into Idaho, where snow tires or four-wheel drive are still being advised because of patchy snow.

Normal for this time of year in Salt Lake City is about 36 degrees for a high and 21 for the low.

The cold temperatures also set two records Monday in the Beehive State. Randolph in Rich County was 18 degrees below zero. That broke the record of 16 below set on Jan. 6, 1985.

Alpine in Utah County also set a record Monday for a low maximum temperature of only 17 degrees, shattering a record in 2004 of 25 degrees.