Park City’s current transportation master plan was created in 2011 and assumed the city would see a 34% increase in housing, jobs and population by 2040. But data from 2018 predicts double that number, with the amount of growth at 69% in the next 20 years.
Matt Dias is the Park City Manager. He said the city has to be creative and aggressive to account for the surge in people.
“It's no secret that the job growth and the pace of the economy outpaced anything that any of us had really considered,” Dias said. “We're going to have to put our money where our mouth is in terms of reorienting public rights of way, having a more efficient and seamless parking program and really elevating our level of transit service.”
With all the growth in the community, he said they’re trying to accommodate for more traffic on Main Street.
“We're constantly going to be tweaking and trying to maintain a balance between commercial and business impacts and the quality of life in Old Town,” he said. “Going forward, though, we may have to consider more aggressive solutions, such as a one way Main Street, or a one way Swede Alley, and we would come in and assess those, we have a public process.”
Beyond Main Street, Dias also said the city is working on a number of circulation problems.
“I'm trying to deal with some of the conflicts that we have during ski season and when school is in session, and classes are coming in and out,” he said. “To harken back to the last plan, we had several really important elements such as our buses traveling in the shoulder lanes on signalized priority for buses to get through intersections.”
Every November, part of Highway 224 - at Guardsman Pass closes for the season. Right now, 224 is owned and maintained by the Utah Department of Transportation.
One of the city’s recommended projects is to acquire the road. But Dias said it seems unlikely the council will adopt it.
“There's always been a discussion in the community about whether that road should be open year round, or whether it should remain seasonal access,” he said. “I think the existing City Council's position is it should remain in the hands of the state of Utah, and remain a seasonal access road. And so I don't anticipate any changes on that.”
Park City City Council is scheduled to discuss the transportation master plan at their meeting Thursday.
