Traffic flow in Old Town will look very different next week due to the start of a water line replacement on Main Street. Park City Public Utilities Engineer Griffin Lloyd said the road will completely close to vehicles between Heber Avenue and Fifth Street starting Monday morning.
“If you’re coming downhill or northbound on Main Street, you’ll turn at the post office to get on to Swede [Alley],” Lloyd said. “If you’re coming uphill or southbound, you’ll turn at Heber Avenue, be directed up Swede Alley, and you can either take 4th Street or the top of Main to access Main Street.”
Work is scheduled to occur weekdays between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., with construction scheduled to finish by July 1.
At least one sidewalk will remain open during construction, and the work area will reopen to at least one lane of vehicle travel in the evenings and on the weekends.
Historic Park City Alliance Executive Director Ginger Wicks, who represents Main Street businesses, gave credit to the city for allowing free parking in the China Bridge garage during construction.
“From April 1 to July 1, parking in China Bridge will be free,” Wicks said. “As impactful as this project sounds, I will say that the city started talking with us back in the fall that this was coming, and we’ve been working collaboratively on how to make sure we lessen the impacts to businesses. And the city is also working on some marketing elements to also send out that message that businesses are open.”
Lloyd said the upcoming work is just phase one of the project.
“We’re looking at doing this in a three-phased approach over the next three years, and trying to take advantage of that shoulder seasons of April to July.”
He said replacing the Main Street water line is a high priority, due to a substantial amount of breaks in recent years.
There is an open house about the project at City Hall Wednesday between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. for people to ask questions and learn more. There’s also an option to participate virtually on Zoom.
Meeting information can be found here.