New parking restrictions on Guardsman Pass went into effect this week.
Drivers are no longer allowed to park on either side of the Guardsman Pass road. This is part of an initiative by Park City Municipal and Wasatch and Summit counties to manage overcrowding in the area.
Wasatch County placed signs along Guardsman Pass that say cars parked on either side of the road will be towed. This is a two-lane stretch of State Route 224 that runs from the Bonanza Flats trailhead to Big Cottonwood Road at the entrance of Brighton Resort.
The decision to limit parking to designated areas is an effort to curb overcrowding. This has become a focus for Park City recently, especially with an uptick in littering.
“By focusing that parking in that trailhead area, we also in turn sort of limit the amount of people that are actually on the trail and hopefully improve the trail use," said Heinrich Dieters, manager of Park City Trails and Open Space. "We have very few mechanisms or tools [to manage overcrowding], but parking is a major one, so we’re really trying to work on the parking management up there.”
Park City has hired two additional rangers to enforce the restrictions.
In the future, Deiters says the sheriffs’ departments of Summit and Wasatch counties will formally share jurisdiction there. The extra law enforcement presence in the area is intended to help manage and enforce illegal parking.
Starting this weekend, Utah Open Lands is enacting a public transit program that will bus people from the Park City Arts District to popular trailheads, including the Bonanza Flat Trailhead.
The buses will run on Saturdays and Sundays, with the first pick-up scheduled for 8 a.m. and final return at 3:20 p.m. both days. The buses will make four round trips each day, and Reservations are required.
For more on how to reserve a ride with the Transit to Trails program, visit utahopenlands.org/transit-to-trails.
