The 2002 Winter Olympics are a year away, but organizers are already asking truckers to avoid the area around Salt Lake City during the games.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee is working with state and national trucking organizations and the Utah Department of Transportation to tell truckers to avoid I-80 eastbound through Parleys Canyon during the morning hours of the games, Feb. 8-24, 2002.
Olympics officials note that trucks going in the right lane at a very slow speed will be passed by other trucks that are not going much faster, essentially blocking two lanes of traffic.
David Creer, executive director of the Utah Motor Transport Assn., told the paper that many carriers would probably prefer to avoid Utah during that time period - a task easier said than done. Creer noted that Utah is "the crossroads of the West," with Interstates 15 and 80 intersecting in Salt Lake City, and I-70, U.S. Highway 40 and I-84 also crossing the state.
The Salt Lake Organizing Committee will prepare daily schedules and circulate them to the trucking industry enough in advance for trucking companies to make routing changes. The state Department of Transportation will hand out information at all major ports of entry, especially those in I-80 at the Wyoming and Nevada borders.
"We will not be stopping truck traffic or prohibiting passage, but we will help them look for alternate routes," said UDOT spokeswoman Lynette Phillips.