Ogden Canyon is notorious for accidents.
From 2010 through 2023, Utah Highway Patrol recorded an average of 52 crashes per year on Ogden Canyon Road. Over the past five years, it was 60. And despite a dozen crashes this July, including one that killed two people, Ogden Canyon is on track for its lowest number of crashes in more than a decade, with 28 so far this year.
The Utah Department of Transportation has made safety upgrades, including the addition of a centerline rumble strip from the mouth of the canyon to Pineview Reservoir.
UDOT spokesperson Mitch Shaw said if it saves one life, it will be worth it.
“There's areas in the canyon that are really narrow, and there's no room for error,” he said. “But if, God forbid, they [drivers] are not paying attention for some reason and they start to drift over into the opposite lane, these rumble strips will alert them that they’re doing that.”
The barrier to prevent people from driving into the Ogden River on the western edge of the road was also upgraded.
“If you fall into the river, the chances that you're going to be seriously injured are greater than if you bounce off a barrier.”
Other changes may also be on the way.
Large vehicles pose another problem that’s harder to address. Trucks 53 feet or longer have a hard time navigating the narrowest part of the canyon.
“They don't have room to stay in their lane, so they'll come over the double yellow line, and it's not much. Two vehicles can still fit in there, but it is just an extremely tight squeeze.”
He doesn’t think widening the road is feasible because it would affect the natural landscape, be expensive and require a prolonged road closure.
“We want to measure twice and cut once. But I think the solution is going to be simpler than to blow out a big piece of rock wall.”
He said UDOT is considering banning long trucks, which he thinks would make the road safer. Still, he said the truck involved in the July crash that killed two people would not have been long enough to be affected by the truck ban they’re considering.
And none of these changes would have prevented an October crash that killed a driver who tried to pass in a no-passing zone. Five people have died in accidents in the canyon since 2019; three of those were this year.
“It is frustrating, because one death is too many on any of our roadways,” he said. “We have some ideas of things that we think will improve safety, but people are still going to have to follow the rules of the road.”
UDOT is also in talks with the Weber County Sheriff’s office and Utah Highway Patrol about increasing speed limit enforcement, but “there are some challenges to patrolling [Ogden Canyon] because there's limited space where you can pull somebody over.”
And Shaw doesn’t think changes to the road will prevent all collisions.
“It's impossible to engineer for somebody that makes a really terrible decision.”
Macy Lipkin is a Report for America corps member who reports for KUER in northern Utah.
