Main Street and Swede Alley redevelopment discussions returned to the Park City Council Thursday for the first time since February 2025.
The concepts were previously part of the Main Street Area Plan. But the council did not adopt the proposal in December 2024, instead taking a piecemeal approach by prioritizing specific elements and checking their feasibility.
The traffic and circulation improvement feasibility studies are now largely complete and city staff presented their findings.
Main Street and Swede Alley
One feasibility study looked into a more pedestrian-friendly Main Street and Swede Alley. The latest Main Street concept design includes an 8-foot-wide sidewalk on one side and a 14-foot path on the other. It also features an 8-foot-wide parking zone and one-way travel for cars while the trolley could travel up and down Main Street.
City Economic Development Project Manager Matt Lee said the design includes landscaping.
“Street furnishings and trees would be robust enough to provide protection from vehicles, yet movable to allow the city to flex the right of way for street events while meeting public safety access requirements,” he said.
The Swede Alley concept includes 6-foot-wide sidewalks, a 9-foot parking zone, two-way traffic lanes and a 10-foot multi-use lane for service vehicles.
The pedestrian-friendly redesign for both streets would cost about $36.6 million. The council said it supports the redevelopment’s direction so far.
Councilmember Bill Ciraco suggested the redevelopments start on Swede Alley to limit impacts to Main Street businesses. Councilmember Tana Toly said she wants Swede Alley on par with Main Street.
“Right now, our code actually says that Swede Alley should be subordinate to Main Street, and to me, that is something that needs to just change dramatically,” she said. “We need to make it a place where it is a desirable area.”
Previous Swede Alley concepts added various businesses to entice visitors.
China Bridge garage and aerial transit
The council agreed China Bridge is the top priority. The southern portion of the garage has five to 10 years of life left. The council wants to determine its future before the 2034 Olympics.
A replacement or redevelopment of China Bridge would go hand-in-hand with aerial transit. Council supported adding a gondola connecting Main Street to Deer Valley Resort’s Snow Park Village.
Ciraco said construction should be done in phases to limit parking impacts.
“We have to have a rock-solid plan for interim sort of mitigation for parking when that happens,” he said.
The council also agreed aerial transit concepts should be separated from Main Street and Swede Alley upgrade plans.
Depending on where towers are built, the gondola could cost between $33 million and $55 million.
Main Street visitation
Declining visitation spurred the council’s interest in revitalizing the Main Street core.
A staff report shows total trips to the area held steady around 4.5 million in 2019 and 2021 with a sharp decline in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Visitation has gradually declined since 2022, with about 4.17 million people on Main Street in 2025. That’s 9% below peak numbers.
Spending per visit, adjusting for inflation, has also declined.
The council hopes redevelopment will bring more people to Main Street as Old Town sees increasing competition for visitors.
Ciraco said making Swede Alley more attractive will help.
“How could they complement Main Street and help create, you know, more stickiness in that Main Street core area for visitation and also more attraction in terms of reasons for people to come,” Ciraco said.
City staff will have more detailed plans, timelines and financial analyzes for the council in a few months.
Park City Municipal is a financial supporter of KPCW.
