When Tooele County opens Middle Canyon this spring, users will need to be ready to fork out cash to get into the canyon.
The Tooele County Commission has approved a plan to install a toll booth at the mouth of Middle Canyon to catch eastbound traffic and another one near the end of the paved road on the Tooele County side to catch westbound traffic, according to Tooele County Commissioner Myron Bateman.
“The main reason is to keep people from coming over from the Salt Lake side at night,” Bateman said. “We want the canyon to be more safe and peaceful, instead of people coming and going all night.”
The fee for Middle Canyon will be the same as Settlement Canyon, according to Dave Brown, Tooele County canyons coordinator.
Day use will be $3 per vehicle and a season pass will be $35. A season pass for both Middle and Settlement canyons will be available for $50. The fee for overnight camping in one of Middle Canyon’s 43 designated campsites will remain at $10 per night, Brown said.
The Middle Canyon gates will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. to accommodate people who commute to work over Middle Canyon. The gates will allow people to exit the canyon at any time, according to Brown.
“We’ve got the canyon pretty well cleaned up during the day, but we’ve got to do something to make it safe at night,” Brown said. “We’ve had trouble with gangs, witchcraft, stolen cars, and drug problems. Sometimes cars race up and down the canyon all night. We need to make the canyon a place where families can camp safely at night.”
Brown said he’s ready for an onslaught of complaints.
“We had complaints when we started collecting a fee in Settlement Canyon,” Brown said. “But then people saw how much it helped to clean the area up. It didn’t seem to affect people too much. Last year over 33,000 people visited Settlement Canyon.”
Revenue from the canyon fee will be used to pay for canyon operations, booth operators and improvements or repairs, according to Brown.
Placing the booths in Middle Canyon required cooperation from Rio Tinto Kennecott and Tooele City, and both agencies were very cooperative, according to Brown.
“Our canyons have become very attractive places to people from outside Tooele County,” Brown said. “The canyon fee will keep the canyon safe and help the canyon to be a place where people can come and have an enjoyable time.”
Weather permitting, Brown expects Middle Canyon to be open by Memorial Day weekend. The fee booths are expected to be operational at that time, he said.