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OPEN
NO TRACTION RESTRICTION POSTED
Last updated at: Nov 4, 9:23 AM MT · UDOT Traffic
Parleys Canyon is open. Road surface: Dry. Weather: Fair. No traction restriction is posted for this corridor right now.
I-80 | Salt Lake City to Park City
Full camera stripParleys Canyon is the busiest mountain crossing in Utah: Interstate 80 climbing out of Salt Lake City, over Parleys Summit, and down to Kimball Junction and Park City. It carries daily commuters, a heavy freight stream headed across Wyoming, and the ski traffic for Park City and Deer Valley on the same six lanes.
This page puts the whole corridor on one screen: the live UDOT verdict first, then the cameras in driving order, the current traction posting, roadside weather at the mouth and the summit, and the closures and events UDOT is reporting right now.
I-215 East belt junction
The decision point. Once you pass the belt, the next easy exit is miles up the canyon.
Canyon mouth
Where valley weather ends. Rain at the mouth is often snow by the summit.
Lambs Canyon exit
Mid canyon. A useful bail out point when eastbound queues build.
Parleys Summit
The high point at about 7,000 feet, and the weather split between the two valleys.
Kimball Junction
SR-224 into Park City, or stay on I-80 toward Coalville and Wyoming.
| Station | Air | Road surface | Wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| I-80 @ Parleys Summit | 38°F | n/a | 5 mph SW, gusting 9 |
| I-80 @ MP 138 Parleys Creek Crossing EB | n/a | Dry, 53°F | n/a |
| I-80 @ MP 128 Mouth of Parleys | 49°F | n/a | 6 mph SE, gusting 10 |
| I-80 @ Parleys Canyon Quarry EB | 45°F | Dry, 48°F | 3 mph N, gusting 4 |
Temperatures are Fahrenheit, as UDOT reports them. Data: UDOT Traffic.
roadwork
Park City SR-224 BRT|Email: BRT@HVTutah.gov / Hotline: 435-200-5135 / Website: hvtutah.gov/sr224-brt
Data: UDOT Traffic
The single most useful thing to know about Parleys Canyon is that the weather at the bottom tells you almost nothing about the weather at the top. The canyon climbs roughly 2,700 feet in about 13 miles, and that climb is enough to split one storm into two. Salt Lake City can sit under a mild rain shower while Parleys Summit, a twenty minute drive away, takes wind driven snow on a below freezing road. The reverse happens too: a summit socked in at dawn can burn off into a clear Park City morning while the Salt Lake valley stays grey.
That is why this page leads with the summit picture instead of the city forecast. The cameras are sequenced in driving order, mouth to summit to Kimball Junction, so you can watch the transition happen frame by frame: dry at the mouth, wet at Lambs Canyon, snow sticking at the summit. When the frames disagree with each other, believe the highest one. Your drive ends at the top of the climb, not at the bottom, and the stretch over the summit and down the far side is where Parleys earns its reputation.
Check the roadside weather stations the same way. A five degree gap between the mouth and the summit station is normal. A fifteen degree gap with precipitation on the summit camera means the road surface up top is a different material than the one you started on, and it will feel that way at 65 miles an hour.
Parleys is not a recreational road that happens to carry trucks. It is a transcontinental freight route, part of the I-80 corridor linking the Bay Area and Reno to Denver and Chicago, and it runs at interstate volumes: UDOT modelling around Kimball Junction works with segment volumes in the 39,500 to 85,500 vehicles per day range, and bridge records at the summit put daily traffic in the low 50,000s. Layered on top of that freight base is one of the heaviest ski commutes in the country, thousands of Salt Lake workers driving up to Park City jobs, and Park City residents driving down to the city.
The mix is what makes Parleys incidents expensive. A single jackknifed truck near the summit does not just slow a ski day; it queues freight, workers, and visitors into one line with very few places to turn around. Lambs Canyon is the last mid canyon exit, and between the mouth and Kimball Junction the practical advice is simple: the time to change your mind is at the I-215 belt, before you commit to the canyon.
Peak patterns are predictable. Eastbound builds on weekday mornings and powder mornings, westbound on Sunday afternoons and after events in Park City. The live events list on this page shows UDOT's current incidents and roadwork for the corridor, which is the difference between a slow drive and a stopped one.
Ask a Parleys regular what actually closes their drive and the honest answer, half the year, is wind. The canyon funnels east winds off the Uintas and canyon outflow winds down into the mouth, and the exposed stretch over the summit and past Mountain Dell Reservoir takes gusts that push high profile vehicles around in their lanes. UDOT posts wind advisories and, in the strongest events, restrictions for high profile vehicles on this corridor. Box trucks, empty trailers, and RVs feel it first.
Wind pairs badly with the corridor's other habit: fast weather change at the summit. A gusty, dry climb can turn into a gusty whiteout in the last two miles, and blowing snow can polish the road into ice even when little new snow is falling. The roadside stations on this page report wind average and gust for exactly this reason. If the summit gust numbers are running high and you are towing or driving something tall, the right move is to wait in the valley or in Park City rather than test the top.
In summer the same funnel feeds sudden thunderstorms that dump water on the upper canyon while the city stays dry. Standing water on the descent, at speed, is a hydroplaning setup. Slow down before the weather, not in it.
Parleys Canyon is a designated traction segment under Utah Administrative Rule R920-6, and UDOT Wasatch Back posts it as a road that uses both Class 1 and Class 2 requirements. In plain terms: when UDOT or the Highway Patrol calls the traction law on Parleys, heavy vehicles over 12,000 pounds GVWR need traction devices on their rear drive tires or all wheel or four wheel drive on M+S or 3PMSF tires, and when the call goes to Class 2, every vehicle needs devices on at least two drive tires, AWD or 4WD on rated tires, or, for lighter two wheel drive vehicles, 3PMSF snow rated tires.
Since the 2025 law change (House Bill 196), UDOT can put requirements in effect up to 24 hours before a storm arrives, and officers can cite drivers who ignore them. The practical meaning for Parleys commuters: the posting can be up before the first flake falls, and the morning after a storm is not automatically clear. This page reads the traction posting out of the live UDOT feed and puts it in the verdict at the top, in UDOT's own terms, so you are not guessing from a city forecast.
The full rule, all three classes, and what each one demands of your vehicle are on our Utah traction law page, built around the live in effect now status for each corridor.
Regulars read Parleys in three frames. The mouth frame tells you whether the storm reached the valley at all. The Lambs Canyon frame, mid climb, tells you whether it is intensifying with altitude, which is the usual pattern. The summit frame tells you what you will actually drive on. When all three agree, the drive is what it looks like. When they disagree, conditions are changing faster than the forecast cycle, and the summit frame wins.
Eastbound, watch the descent past the summit toward Kimball Junction: it is shaded in the morning, holds ice later than the climb, and it is where speed built up on the climb meets the SR-224 split. Westbound, the long downgrade into the city is hard on brakes in summer traffic and deceptive in winter, because you leave Park City weather and arrive in Salt Lake weather with the summit's ice sometimes waiting in between.
Wildlife is a year round factor on the lower half. Moose and deer cross near Mountain Dell and Lambs Canyon, most often at dawn and dusk. A moose on I-80 is not a deer sized problem; it stands at windshield height. If the events list shows an animal report, take it seriously.
Parleys rarely closes outright; when it does, it is usually a crash closure or a wind event for high profile vehicles rather than snow alone. The more common trap is the open but miserable drive: chain level postings on the feed, spin outs stacking near the summit, and a westbound queue that turns 25 miles into two hours. Because the corridor is an interstate, freight keeps moving long after ski traffic should have stayed home, and passenger cars get caught in the middle of it.
Use the verdict at the top of this page the way it is written. Closed means closed, and there is no Wasatch frontage road workaround; the alternate is I-84 through Weber Canyon or US-40 from Heber, both long detours that earn their keep only when I-80 is shut. Traction in effect means the gear requirement is real and enforced. And a clear verdict with high summit gusts still means tall vehicles should wait.
If you are choosing between Parleys and a Cottonwood canyon on a storm morning, the comparison page on this site puts the corridors side by side with live status for each, which is the fastest honest answer we can give you.
Is Parleys Canyon open right now?
The verdict at the top of this page is read live from UDOT Traffic. If it says closed, UDOT is reporting a closure on the corridor; if it shows an incident, the events list below names it. This page never guesses: no live feed, no verdict.
Do I need chains or 4WD in Parleys Canyon today?
Check the traction line in the verdict. Parleys is a designated traction segment under Utah Rule R920-6, and when UDOT calls Class 1 or Class 2, the gear requirements are mandatory and enforceable. The traction law page explains what each class demands.
How many cameras are on Parleys Canyon?
UDOT's corridor count for Parleys is 38 cameras, sequenced in driving order on the Parleys camera strip page. Every camera also has its own page with the live still and the local context.
Why is Parleys windy when Salt Lake is calm?
The canyon funnels wind between the two valleys, and the summit stretch past Mountain Dell is exposed. The roadside stations on this page report gust speeds at the corridor so you can see it before you drive it.
What is the drive time from Salt Lake City to Park City?
About 30 minutes in free flow over Parleys Summit via I-80 and SR-224. Storm postings, incidents, and Sunday afternoon traffic can double or triple it; the live events list shows what UDOT is working right now.