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One bench, two canyons, four resorts. This page is the decision page: live verdicts for Little Cottonwood (SR-210) and Big Cottonwood (SR-190) side by side, with both traction postings, because the right canyon on a storm morning is the one that is open, posted at a class your vehicle meets, and moving.
24 miles | About 35 to 45 minutes depending on the canyon | Data: UDOT Traffic
Little Cottonwood Canyon is open. Road surface: Dry. Weather: Fair. No traction restriction is posted for this corridor right now.
Data: UDOT Traffic | UDOT report Nov 4, 9:23 AM MT
Big Cottonwood Canyon is open. Road surface: Dry. Weather: Fair. No traction restriction is posted for this corridor right now.
Data: UDOT Traffic | UDOT report Nov 4, 9:23 AM MT
Both canyons leave from the same southeast bench, minutes apart at Cottonwood Heights. That geography is the whole strategy: you do not have to choose your canyon at home. Drive to the bench with both verdicts on your phone, and choose at Wasatch Boulevard with live information. This page exists to be that phone screen.
Big Cottonwood's mouth is straight ahead at Fort Union; Little Cottonwood's is a few minutes south. The two mouths run the same Class 3 traction standard with the same enforcement agencies, so the gear question never decides between them. Flow, closures, and control work do.
Eight miles, the deepest snow, Alta and Snowbird, and the highest closure risk in the system. Control work mornings are routine and posted with estimates. When it is open and flowing, nothing in Utah skis like it, which is why the queue forms anyway.
Fourteen miles, Solitude and Brighton, fewer slide paths, and the substitution surge on Little Cottonwood closure days. Its eight cameras are thin coverage, so read the events list with them. On the mornings both canyons post control work, Big Cottonwood usually reopens first, but usually is not a plan.
When one canyon closes, the other absorbs its traffic at canyon road capacity, around 1,000 vehicles an hour in Big Cottonwood's case. A closure notice for the canyon you did not choose is still information about your drive. The comparison page linked from here was built to make that math visible in ten seconds.
Some mornings both verdicts say posted, queued, or closed, and the working answer is Parleys to Park City, an interstate built for exactly the weather the canyons are struggling with. The Parleys and SR-224 verdicts are one click from here. Choosing the open road over the intended one is the oldest local skill there is.
Which Cottonwood canyon should I drive today?
The one whose live verdict on this page says open, flowing, and posted at a class your vehicle meets. If both qualify, choose by resort. If neither does, Park City via Parleys is the storm day answer.
Are the traction rules the same in both canyons?
Yes. Both SR-210 and SR-190 are Class 3 traction segments under Rule R920-6, enforced at the mouths by the same agencies. One compliant vehicle setup covers both canyons.
How far apart are the two canyon mouths?
About five minutes along Wasatch Boulevard, which is what makes the choose at the bench strategy work. Decide with the live verdicts, not in the driveway.