The long wait for new, specialty Great Salt Lake license plates is almost over.

State they needed 500 applicants to begin moving forward with the final design, production and distribution of the new boards.

The state legislature passed a bill that creates the plates in March 2023.

Jason Gardner, director of policy, planning and public affairs with Utah State Tax Commissiontold KSL NewsRadio that the threshold had been passed and people could see the licenses hit the bumper as soon as January 2025.

“They’re on their way,” Gardner said. “They expect to overhaul it and have it ready for production (in) early 2025. … I’m told in January or February.”

Gardner said all that’s left to do before the plates are sent out to applicants is for the preliminary design to go through a state design review board and for a professional graphic designer to put the finishing touches on it and send it to the Department of Utah corrections.

The UDC will produce the plates and send them to the applicants.

How Great Salt Lake License Plates Will Help

Proceeds from the plates go directly to help protect the Great Salt Lake.

Under the legislation, revenues are to be “deposited into the Sovereign Land Management Account to enhance conservation of the Great Salt Lake watershed and ecosystem,” the law states.

Water levels in the Great Salt Lake have seen some improvement since the bill was signed into law. The lake reached between 4,195.1 and 4,195.2 feet, which was the highest mark of 2017.

However, the abnormally hot and dry summer caused the lake to do so lose more water than it normally does. Levels on the south arm of the lake are currently at 4,192.1 feet, three feet below this spring’s peak.

Current levels are about 6 feet below the lake’s target level of 4,198 feet, a point the lake has not reached since 2012.