Snowstorms like the one that pounded the West Side of Summit County this week bring misery for motorists so snowplow drivers in Parleys Canyon have been working 24 hours a day.
“There is a lot of snow on the top of the summit,” said Kamas resident Roger Frantz, a Utah Department of Transportation station supervisor who manages about 19 snowplow drivers in Parleys Canyon. “It’s a little early for the amount of storms that we have had.”
Their main duties include clearing snow and throwing down salt, but Frantz said his drivers do more to keep Interstate 80 open in the winter. On Wednesday, the crew helped straighten a jackknifed semitrailer in the canyon.
“They had the chain law in effect because it was snowing quite hard. We were in the middle of a shift change and there’s supposed to be a tow truck coming, but I know they’re going to be slow,” said Frantz, who is 40 years old. “I know that if it snows like it has been that the canyon’s going to close.”
So his staff brought a loader down from the maintenance shed.
“I’ve got a push bumper on my foreman truck. We straightened the thing out, hooked onto it and drug it up to the 132 exit,” Frantz said about the big rig. “I don’t think a lot of people realize that that stuff goes on in the canyon. We clear any kind of wreck, immediately, if we can.”
Frantz’s crew has about 10 plow trucks to clear snow from Interstate 80 between Jeremy Ranch and 700 South in Salt Lake.
“You’ve got to want to keep it open. They stress the importance of keeping the canyon and the summit open to me and we do what it takes,” Frantz said. “It’s crazy and it gets scary. But you get used to it.”
Frantz said this is his 14th year driving a snowplow for UDOT, but his crew only added Parleys Summit to their route last month.
“We used to just do Lamb’s Canyon to Salt Lake,” Frantz said. “It’s just a lot busier now.”
The summit is one of the most difficult areas in the canyon to plow, he added.
“It gets real chaotic up there if you’ve got a semi that hasn’t put his chains on and he’s stuck. You’ve got Highway Patrol cars around him and you’re trying to plow around that stuff,” Frantz explained. “A lot of semi traffic drives the canyon and if you’ve only got one lane open when it’s snowing hard like that, if you get another semi spun out, it’s closed.”
Frantz awarded for service
Frantz is not only an expert snowplow operator; he is also skilled behind the wheel of a bulldozer. He was one of three equipment operators who were presented the Department of the Army Commander’s Award for Civilian Service this month.
In September, Frantz, who was born and raised in Kamas, was instrumental in helping cut fire lines during a wildfire near Herriman. Major General Brian Tarbet, adjutant general of the Utah National Guard, credited Frantz with helping save dozens of homes in Salt Lake County.
“I guess they felt like that they probably wouldn’t have been able to save those houses if the dozers weren’t there,” Frantz said humbly.
The award is to recognize “exceptional service of major significance” to the community, according to Army officials.
“I came down from Kamas and they were transporting our dozers there,” Frantz said. “There was a cul-de-sac up in there and we were getting ready to unload that dozer on a nice street with nice concrete when the flames came over the hill toward the houses. I had that mixed thing going on in my mind of how crazy it is that you’re unloading a bulldozer in a neighborhood like that.”
Advice for motorists
Frantz said the best tip he can offer motorists who must travel through Parleys Canyon in a storm is to equip their vehicles with snow tires.
“No matter how much we push or how much salt we put down there is going to be slush on the road, and there is no way I would send my family anywhere with just regular street tires,” he said. “I’ve seen young girls out there cleaning their wipers off or whatever and they’ve got a meaty set of snow tires on there and I think your dad or your boyfriend sure likes you.”
Motorists must also give snowplow drivers plenty of room.
Drive slowly and stay back, he stressed.
Several plow operators often drive in a staggered formation as the lanes are cleared all at once.
“People want to get by us so they’ll drive right up into that front truck. But if we’ve got to pass a semi on the shoulder or a wreck, we can’t get over if you’re one of those last trucks and you’ve got cars right to the side of you,” Frantz said. “Stay back off the last truck a ways and enjoy your coffee. Don’t get to the side of a plow truck.”