The Park City Council gave staff the go-ahead to begin designing a park-and-ride on the Gordo property Thursday. It includes about 22 acres along state Route 248, west of the intersection with Richardson Flat Road.
Park-and-ride lots have long been identified as a way to reduce vehicle trips into Park City and encourage transit use.
There is already a lot in Richardson Flat, east of the Gordo property, but the city sees the need for another Quinn’s Junction-area site. Senior Transportation Planner Conor Campobasso said the Gordo property has consistently emerged as a good option as it is city-owned and closer to SR-248.
“A lot of the times people will see the Richardson Flat park-and-ride as it sits today anyway, and they're like, ‘I'm not going to turn down this road to then drive a couple miles to then park, wait for a bus and then take that same road back to 248,’ so this is just a little bit of a cleaner path for them,” he said.
Many who use the Richardson Flat site come from U.S. 40, but parking at Gordo would shorten their commute without any back and forth.
Campobasso said Gordo also has space to build amenities like a break room for bus drivers and restrooms for travelers — services not available at Richardson Flat.
Councilmembers approved Gordo as a first-phase park-and-ride lot with Richardson Flat as a phase 2 overflow lot in a 4-1 vote. Councilmember Ed Parigian said he needed more information to make a decision.
Staff will incorporate the Gordo park-and-ride into the Re-create 248 Environmental Impact Study, which begins in April. The project includes designing side-running bus lanes along state Route 248 and Gordo would provide a transit connection for those buses.
After the design process, the council will decide how many parking spaces the site will have and pinpoint the total costs.
Park City Municipal is a financial supporter of KPCW.
