Summit County’s Transportation Department has set its goals for 2019, which range from constant analysis of their routes and effectiveness, to specific capital projects.
County Transportation Manager Caroline Rodriguez reviewed a number of their 2019 goals, including the Jeremy Ranch Interchange project, headed up by Public Works Director Derrick Radke.
“We are adding bike share stations in 2019,” Rodriguez said. “Hopefully, Punxatawney Phil was right and we can start construction in April. People will hear a lot about that, with a lot of lead time to be ready for that construction. Very minimal impacts to the traveling public. Y’know, I think 2019 is an opportunity for us as staff to step back, and analyze the investments we’ve made since the 2016 tax initiatives, whether those have been effective, whether there’s other ways those funds can be used more effectively, and how the service changes we’ve made in the last three years are working.”
She said another item, at the top of the list for review, is the Salt Lake connector bus. Rodriguez noted that the bus previously ran all the way to the Park City Transit Center. Now it comes just to the Kimball Junction Center. She admitted that’s created a challenge for some riders to make the connection from Park City to Kimball Junction on the white electric bus.
She said they changed the Salt Lake service for a couple of reasons.
“It was our understanding and analysis that indicated there would be a significant enough cost savings that we could add additional mid-day runs in terminating at the Kimball Junction transit center,” Rodriguez explained. “In addition to that, with the high frequency of the White, people should be able to make the connections. However, what this experience has shown is that a lot of our riders are frustrated because they can’t make that connection. And the service is operated by UTA. They can’t hold the connect bus in Park City, so people are missing.”
She said the Salt Lake service isn’t running the way they want it to operate.
“And that is certainly something that is on our radar, that we’re looking at to see, do we need to make another adjustment, do we need to add that leg back, how can we make it work for people, “Rodriguez continued. “I mean, did we make a change that just didn’t work. And you don’t want to change back within a month or two months. You want to give it some time to see if there’s a strategy we can employ that will get people to that.”
We also asked her if service will be set up to the Quinn’s Junction area.
“So we do have the Dial a Ride service that is available, of course,” Rodriguez said. “But again, that is one of those service areas that in 2019 is going to require some analysis, in terms of the density of destinations that are out there, and how we can best serve our population in getting there, especially when Peace House opens, that’s just another large group of employees and volunteers that we’re gonna have to serve.”
Finally, we’ve heard complaints from residents in the Timberline/Summit Park neighborhoods that they’re short on bus service—while discussions are underway for a possible bus link to Heber.
Rodriguez clarified, though, that those talks are mounted from the Mountainlands Association of Governments, and she isn’t involved.
“I can say that we are always looking at how we can serve Timberline, how we can serve the Summit Park area,” Rodriguez said. “And we felt that opening the park n ride at Ecker got us one step closer to that service. They’re a very difficult operating environment. We’re always looking to see, is there a way we can serve them, do we have the resources, can the vehicles get through, is it efficient, is it effective. So we haven’t forgotten about that neighborhood at all. Y’know, you have to look at where you can get the best return on investment for your resources.”
