It’s been 14 years since Park City last adopted a bicycle and pedestrian transportation plan. That was part of the 2007 $15 million walkability bond that was approved by Park City voters that November.
Now, the fund has roughly $5 million left and the city wants to know what to spend that money on. Should there be a way to get across the Kearns Boulevard and Park Avenue intersection without crossing traffic? Does Park City need more sidewalks in residential neighborhoods? Now is the time to weigh in.
City active transportation planner Austin Taylor says the city wants to answer the question: what would make people want to walk or bike more in Park City?
“The city is doing a city-wide biking and pedestrian plan that's going to determine construction projects for the next 15 years or so," he says. "We want to get people’s ideas for how the city can improve walking and biking. We’re looking to get at least 400 responses to that survey, but hopefully more.”
The survey asks a series of questions about walking and biking in Park City. Those include ranking how frequently people use various modes of transportation in both the summer and winter, or asking what people would spend transportation money on if they ran the city for a day.
Also open for feedback this week is a survey on the city’s short-range transportation plan. This survey wants feedback on what the city should prioritize when it comes to public transit over the next five years.
The last such plan was done in 2016, and a lot has changed since then. The most noticeable change is this summer’s split between Park City and Summit County and the formation of the county-run High Valley Transit District, which serves greater Summit County.
City Manager Matt Dias says city staff want to leave no stone unturned when they look at the best ways to get people around Park City.
“Are we comparing apples and oranges and pears, so to speak? Busses, gondolas, or micro transit?" says Dias. "Are we comparing those side-by-side in terms of cost, expenditures, equipment, disruption? I think that we want to do that going forward so that we’re evaluating every option when it comes to transit and transportation to eke all of the efficiency out of our system that we can.”
The survey asks how often people ride public transit, which routes they take, and what other improvements could be made to the services offered in Park City.
Both surveys are anonymous and open until Sunday, November 14th. Click here for the walking and biking survey, click here. For the short-range transit survey, click here.
