Park City School District leaders want to provide a new exit point for Park City High School buses. The school’s 18 buses currently exit the school by turning onto Kearns Boulevard, or state Route 248, all at once.
As there is no traffic light, the lead bus currently enters Kearns and temporarily blocks traffic to allow the others to merge onto the main roadway. Nine turn left and nine turn right.
The district is concerned about safety. The buses leave campus during peak traffic hours and there are increasing interactions with frustrated drivers. There have also been multiple crashes in front of the school.
So, the district is proposing buses be rerouted to Lucky John Drive. Buses could get to Monitor Drive and use the intersection to turn onto Kearns.
To go ahead with the plan, the Park City Planning Commission would need to modify a conditional use permit so buses could use what is now an on-campus emergency lane. The commission reviewed the proposal Wednesday, but wasn’t convinced rerouting would solve the problem.
Commissioner Seth Beal worried there would still be safety issues.
“I actually think you just create different safety issues,” he said. “When I think of driving that section of Lucky John, that's where I see people on bikes coming from Park Meadows to school, you increase traffic on a road that already makes me nervous.”
Commissioner John Frontero agreed, saying he doesn’t want to push buses into a neighborhood. He also said the reroute created more issues, especially because the buses turning onto Kearns is only a five to 10 minute problem that occurs about four times a week during the school year.
“What's being proposed tonight, I find, does not make sense,” he said. “We're sending people backwards away from 248 to take a left onto Lucky John, left turns are difficult, and then we're sending them to Monitor to, yes, take another left, also a difficult turn.”
The district noted the reroute would be a temporary solution. It wants to build a road connecting the high school to McPolin Elementary so buses could use the signal at Comstock Drive and SR-248 to enter the Kearns Campus. The road is part of the unapproved phase three of the district’s athletics master plan.
Frontero suggested working with the Utah Department of Transportation to potentially put a light at the exit from Park City High onto SR-248. However, the district said UDOT doesn’t want to install a light there as it’s too close to the Monitor, Kearns intersection.
At the commission’s request, city staff will now study a Comstock Drive option and may approach UDOT again for a temporary light.
