Funded almost entirely by a $4 million dollar federal transportation grant, a proposed park and ride at Quinn’s Junction would supply 465 parking spots to the eastern entry corridor to Park City, complete with bus service to the center of town.
At a meeting in March, the Park City Council decided to put the project on hold after councilors indicated it would be scrapped unless a few outstanding questions were answered.
Councilors Tana Toly, Jeremy Rubell, and Ryan Dickey all expressed concerns with the project. Toly wanted to see options for the existing, but seldom-used, park and ride at Richardson Flat, while Rubell and Dickey were looking for more clarity on the project’s financial breakdown and utilization estimates.
City staff hopes to have answered those questions as the council debates the project again at Thursday's meeting.
The city staff report goes on to say staff are concerned about “long term implications for future federal grants” if the city rejects the proposal.
City Manager Matt Dias said that reasoning is valid, especially after the city also turned down over $60 million in transportation grant money for an SR 248 widening project in 2019.
“The ultimate consequence, sort of the mic-drop moment, is that roughly $4 million in funding were to disappear and would no longer be spent at this community," Dias said. "It would be redeployed in other communities, likely along the Wasatch Front, northern, or southern Utah. There’s an argument to be had that this would be the second time, after working closely with UDOT and other partners, that sort of at the end of the game, we’re on the five yard line, we would be saying ‘no thanks’ after money was held for us in advance.”
The $4 million grant cannot be used for any other project and Park City would lose the ability to access that money in the future if the council decides to not move forward.
If approved, the city would be responsible for just under $1 million in construction costs and roughly $100,000 in annual maintenance, which Dias said the city could explore partnerships with local businesses like Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley to help offset.
Dias added that there are also inherent problems with the Richardson Flat lot that make it a difficult alternative to Quinn’s Junction. In particular, Richardson Flat is acting as a cap to contaminated soil left over from the city’s mining days. According to city staff, any improvements to the existing lot can’t actually break ground due to environmental risks.
Dias said the Quinn’s lot on its own won’t solve all of the city’s growing traffic problems, but it could be a step toward a less congested Park City.
“The hope is we’re going to need to make incremental solutions, capital solutions, programming policies and capital solutions, if we’re going to make a dent in some of the traffic and congestion," he said. "It’s clear that we’ve gotta figure out some ways, some strategic ways, to capture some of that volume prior to it ever getting into town. We keep coming back to there will not be a single solution that’s going to cure all of the ills for the extreme traffic and congestion we experience at times, but we absolutely need to make thoughtful and meaningful steps forward.”
If approved, Dias said there is a chance the park and ride could be open before next winter, but a more likely time frame is early summer 2023.
Thursday’s meeting begins with a work session on the park and ride at 4:45 p.m. The council could vote on the construction contract later in the meeting. The deadline for a council decision on the project is May 17th before the construction bid expires.
A link to the full agenda and details on how to participate can be found here.
