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Show A-2 Wed/Thurs/Fri, January 22-24, 2020 The Park Record The Park Record. Serving Summit County since 1880 The Park Record, Park City’s No. 1 source for local news, opinion and advertising, is available for home delivery in Summit, Wasatch, Salt Lake, Davis and Utah counties. Single copies are also available at 116 locations throughout Park City, Heber City, Summit County and Salt Lake City. SUBSCRIPTION RATES In Summit County (home delivery): $56 per year (includes Sunday editions of The Salt Lake Tribune) Outside Summit County (home delivery available in Wasatch, Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Utah counties; all other addresses will be mailed via the U.S. Postal Service): $80 per year To subscribe please call 435–649– 9014 or visit www.parkrecord.com and click the Subscribe link in the Reader Tools section of the toolbar at the bottom of the page. To report a missing paper, please call 801–204–6100. 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Phone: 435–649–9014 Fax: 435–649–4942 Email: circulation@parkrecord.com Published every Wednesday and Saturday County and city confront a transit transition Officials eye massive project amid friction about how to proceed ALEXANDER CRAMER The Park Record Lines of red taillights receding into the distance on S.R. 224, gridlock coming from the east on S.R. 248 as the snow accumulates and the clock ticks on a powder day: These are not the images local elected officials want residents and tourists to encounter when driving in the Park City area. Mass transit has been posited as the solution for years. The hope is that more riders on more buses would lead to fewer cars on the roads. In recent years, officials have seen bus rapid transit as the fix, a system of buses running in dedicated lanes on major routes that shuttle riders from one node to another with minimal stops, possibly avoiding intersections by going above or below roads or coordinating with traffic lights. One Summit County transit official described it as having the benefit of trains and the cost of buses. That cost, though, is still significant, with an estimated $75 million price tag, the bulk of which would be to buy land. And while federal funds could defray some of it, those grants are capped this year at $25 million per project, leaving a significant funding gap. As Summit County readies to put what County Manager Tom Fisher called “real dollars” into an effort that would presumably require re- gional support, tensions between the county and Park City have risen. There have been allegations of incompetence by elected officials and suggestions that the two entities sever ties after decades of a Park City-led transit system. The ostensible flash point has been the location for the Park City node of the bus rapid transit system. Applications for federal grants must include the end points of the system, transit officials have said. Kimball Junction appears to be one settled terminus, but the other end is still up for debate. Park City sees it as part of the Bonanza Park arts and culture district, which is planned to include housing and businesses on 5.25 acres of land between Kearns Boulevard and Bonanza Drive. Park City officials envision aerial transit like gondolas eventually connecting passengers to Old Town and the resorts, and micro-transit solutions like on-demand buses shuttling passengers in the interim. Summit County officials, though, have questioned the wisdom of stopping bus rapid transit short of many riders’ ultimate goal: Main Street. When the topic came up at a December meeting of a transit board that has representatives from both the city and county, for example, one Park City councilor questioned the level of trust between the two sides and suggested the county should pay more attention to providing service to places like Pinebrook and Jeremy Ranch and allow Park City to determine what happens within its boundaries. That councilor, Tim Henney, further suggested severing ties between the two entities to allow more flexi- bility for a regional transit authority. County officials said an environmental assessment will include both Bonanza Park and the Old Town transit center as potential ending points of the bus rapid transit system. Park City’s transit district recently had its 40th anniversary, and it’s only in the last two decades that Summit County has joined as a sort of junior partner. Park City had functioned for years as the leader and sole service provider, but the county’s role is expanding rapidly. It’s spending more on transit than it ever has and there are routes going to Kamas, Summit Park and Trailside. At a Park City Council meeting last week, Park City’s elected officials heard from the city’s transportation manager that the transit system is at capacity. One councilor suggested that, even if the city could find the funding for salaries for 30 more bus drivers, it’s not clear the city would be able to hire them because of the area’s housing situation. But expanding the transit system is seen as the solution to the region’s traffic problem, something the County Council listed as its No. 1 strategic priority. During a transit visioning session at the City Council meeting, Henney and Mayor Andy Beerman suggested it might be appropriate to rethink how transit governance is organized. Rather than Park City leading the way, they suggested it might be a better fit for the city to act as one partner in a regional authority. County officials have said Wasatch County and the Military Installation Development Authority should participate in a regional authority, as ‘ a p well. MIDA controls thousands of acres around the Jordanelle Reservoir, including the site of the proposed Mayflower Mountain Resort. The current transit arrangement between Park City and Summit County is governed under a 2006 interlocal agreement that was updated in 2009. It was written at a time when Park City had vastly more staff experience and capacity than the county did, Fisher said. County officials have said they want more influence and control in the next version of the agreement, which is expected to be renegotiated this year. The county anticipates spending $11.1 million on transit in 2020, which Fisher said is at least double what was spent when he first arrived in 2014. The bus rapid transit environmental assessment will cost the county roughly $1 million. The two councils are set to meet in a joint transportation meeting on Feb. 5 to hash out the future of the system and the role each will play. The cost of bus rapid transit appears to be too much for either government to take on alone, with a roughly $50 million gap between preliminary cost estimates and federal funding. County councilors and County Manager Fisher suggest that the relatively heated discussions that have taken place to date have been about conducting due diligence before undertaking a project of this magnitude. “These are large projects, larger than these two communities have ever done before,” Fisher said. “At the end of the day if a system costs $30 or $40 million or more after it’s all built and operating, that’s — we need to have a full understanding.” Script drafted for drivers during Sundance Planning ahead, using transit can help people steer clear of traffic JAY HAMBURGER The Park Record Avoiding the traffic jams in Park City during the Sundance Film Festival is as likely as being discovered on Main Street as the next Hollywood star. But Park City has drafted a script to assist drivers as they attempt to accomplish just that. And no special effects are needed. The Sundance traffic is notorious as the worst of the year in Park City, topping even the busy week between Christmas and New Year’s. Large crowds of film lovers arrive on Park City roads, competing for lanes with ridesharing vehicles, taxis, shuttles and official Sundance vehicles. Add the commuter traffic, skiers driving to Continued from A-1 One-way roads Deer Valley Drive, which is part of the state highway system and seen as better able to carry the traffic increases during Sundance. The other upcoming one-way re- or from the mountain resorts and students headed to school and the roads in Park City can quickly become clogged. The worst traffic is expected from Thursday, which is opening day for Sundance, until Sunday. The first four days of the festival are usually the most rollicking, and the traffic is normally especially bad those days. Backups are common on the entryways, in Old Town and on the streets headed to and from the Main Street core. Park City officials for years have made suggestions aimed at helping drivers navigate around the busiest times. Some of the suggestions were outlined in the Park City Community Guide published in anticipation of last year’s Sundance. The suggestions remain relevant for this year’s event as well. They include: • altering schedules to “avoid commuting during peak time periods.” • planning ahead and factoring “in additional time to get from place to place.” • walking, carpooling or riding the bus The guide also notes that winter weather “can intensify traffic congestion.” The Community Guide published in 2019 also outlined some of the times when backups could occur as well as the streets that could become problematic. It said the traffic worsens during the period from 7 a.m. until 9 a.m., as students head to classes. The backups are oftentimes especially bad on Kearns Boulevard at that time since the Park City School District campus is along the road and many commuters use the road. The road also is used to access the Eccles Center, which is one of Sundance’s marquee venues. The afternoon rush hour, meanwhile, runs approximately from 4 p.m. until 6:30 p.m., the Community Guide outlined. Skiers and snowboarders compete with commuters during the late afternoon and evening. The Community Guide said some of the roads that are congested in the afternoon are Lowell Avenue, Empire Avenue, Bo- nanza Drive and lower Deer Valley Drive. The two entryways — S.R. 224 and S.R. 248 — also back up during the rush hours. Park City and Sundance officials have long attempted to reduce the traffic during the festival, with mixed results. The City Hall bus system runs at a peak schedule and is complemented by a festival shuttle that stops at Sundance venues, including the screening rooms. The buses are full at many points, but the crowds in Park City are big enough that the traffic jams persist. City Hall on the municipal website has published a variety of information about transportation-related topics during Sundance. Some of the information is available on a map showing the impacts on transportation. The map is available at: https://parkcity.org/Home/Components/News/ News/36102/23?backlist=%2f. Other information is available in the Community Guide for 2020. It is available at: https://www.parkcity.org/Home/ ShowDocument?id=65185. strictions for Sundance are: • Hillside Avenue, one way in the westbound direction, or the direction toward Main Street • 4th Street between Main Street and Park Avenue in the eastbound direction, or the direction toward Main Street • 5th Street between Main Street and Park Avenue in the eastbound direction, or the direction toward Main Street Resident access passes from City Hall will be needed for two-way traffic on the one-way routes. “We are trying to make it better for people to get around,” said Jenny Di- ersen, the economic development program manager for City Hall, adding that another goal of the restrictions is to increase the number of people riding buses. City Hall staffers have distributed the access passes to Old Town residences and businesses. The Park City Community Guide to Sundance, published by the municipal government, indicates security will be posted meant to deter traffic from cutting through neighborhoods. The tightened traffic plans for Sundance in 2020 follow increasing concern about the crush of vehicles in Old Town. There was earlier talk about City Hall adopting an even more aggressive blueprint that would have been modeled on the one that was in place for the 2002 Winter Olympics, but officials said that sort of plan could not be repeated for Sundance based on the differences in scale between the festival and the Games. The vast resources needed for an Olympic model, such as a fleet of reinforcement buses and outlying park-and-ride lots, are not available for Sundance, the officials determined. Contact Diersen at jenny.diersen@ parkcity.org for more information or if an access pass is required but was not received. Direct Importer of the World’s Finest Rugs PUTTING OUR LENDING EXPERIENCE TO WORK FOR YOU! 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