After updates to the High Valley Transit app rolled out this week, the district's Director Caroline Rodriguez says it’s a lot easier for riders to plan a trip start to finish.
"Now, we do everything for you," Rodriguez said. "So, you go on, you get your trip plan, and we automatically booked that second leg of your trip. So, your micro-vehicle will be waiting for you when you get off the fixed route or on its way to you, but no additional action's required from the rider. It's all automated now.”
Meanwhile, the Utah Department of Transportation is finalizing the environmental process for the $30 million bus rapid transit — or BRT — system on S.R. 224. The biggest cost, she expects, will be acquiring the right of way through property along the road. Rodriguez hopes to receive a “no-significant impact” finding from UDOT as soon as September, allowing the project to move into the final design stage.
“The planned design is both sides running on 224 between Kimball Junction and, essentially, the Park City intersection — 224 to 248,” Rodriguez said. "After that, the vehicles will run in mixed traffic, and they will be enabled by technology improvements and intersection improvements all the way up to the Old Town transit center. Those are 12-foot dedicated bus lanes on both sides.”
She said there will still be bike lanes and breakdown lanes the length of the route. Much of the work, she says, can be done using the existing asphalt, though some areas of the road will need to be widened.
“For the most part, we'll be operating in the existing footprint, which is a lot wider than a lot of people realize," Rodriguez said.
UDOT has also allocated funding for the next phase of environmental work for a new S.R. 224 and Interstate 80 intersection at Kimball Junction. That process, she says, will take at least one year.
Rodriguez adds that she hopes construction will start in the next 30 days on the new High Valley bus barn near U.S. 40. That will enable the district to move into the facility by January while work starts on the second phase, a maintenance facility. The total cost of that project is about $30 million.
