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Show C-1 B-1 PCMR GETS READY TO SOAR INTO SPRINGTIME MINERS ROSE ABOVE A CHALLENGING SEASON SCENE & HEARD, B-8 JOIN THE LOCAL CONVERSATION COLUMNS, A-14 WETLANDS WILL REAP WHAT VOLUNTEERS SOW The Park Record is always looking for letters to the editor. Send your opinions to editor@parkrecord.com. DEM PRIMARY HAS LEFT TOM CLYDE UNINSPIRED Park Record. The PA R K C I T Y, U TA H | W W W. PA R K R E C O R D . C O M Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, February 29-March 3, 2020 Serving Summit County since 1880 Vol. 140 | No. 08 $1.00 Mayor slated to deliver State of City address Beerman expected to discuss bold change as leaders unveil a vision meant to guide the community JAY HAMBURGER The Park Record JAMES HOYT/PARK RECORD The sun sets over the Salt Lake Valley as rush-hour traffic streams into and out of Parleys Canyon in Salt Lake City on Feb. 19. The Utah Department of Transportation is soliciting feedback on a project to revamp the mouth of the canyon. For Park City’s workers who commute to or from the Salt Lake Valley, the morning drive can sometimes feel like a battle. And for visitors road tripping west or coming in from the Salt Lake International Airport, traffic in Parleys Canyon can sometimes hit like a sucker punch even when it isn’t snowing. That could change in the coming decades. The public has until March 9 to submit comments on a Utah Department of Transportation draft proposal intended to radically improve the flow and safety of traffic on the roads leading in and out of the western mouth of Parleys Canyon, which is a critical local, state and national economic node that hasn’t been updated in more than half a century. It’s a big undertaking, and UDOT officials estimate that the project could be completed as late as 2040, but a number of variables like an early approval of funding or a successful Winter Olympics bid could speed up the process. “It’s a vital corridor to transport goods all over the nation,” said UDOT spokesman John Gleason in an interview. “You can’t overstate how important I-80 is.” UDOT plans to release the final Parleys Interchange environmental impact statement in July following the public comment period, which included an open house in Salt Lake City on Feb. 12 where alternative construction plans were presented to a crowd of more than 100 people. Parleys Interchange, by the numbers 60,000 Estimated vehicles merging onto I-80 to Park City daily 11,400 Estimated trucks merging onto I-80 to Park City daily 341 Injury accidents that occurred in five years from 2010-2015 Source: Utah Department of Transportation, 2017 The over-under The Utah of the 1960s was a much different place from the Utah of today. The state’s population, the vast majority of which lives in the cities of the western slope of the Wasatch Range, nearly quadrupled from 1960 to 2019, according to Census Bureau estimates. A number of factors, including the 2002 Winter Olympics and an explosion in the tourism and service industry, have propelled the state to be one of the fastest growing in the nation. The Salt Lake County interchange is the primary eastbound gateway to Park City, where an ever-increasing amount of commuters and visitors from multiple high-traffic roadways in Salt Lake City and Millcreek merge onto I-80 eastbound and head uphill through Parleys Canyon. Naomi Kisen, a UDOT staffer leading the environmental study, said that one of the main problems facing travelers through the interchange today are the areas where the roadways merge into each other, resulting in claustrophobic merges and traffic jams that can surprise drivers coming around its curves. A core part of the UDOT proposal is to lengthen the amount of time drivers have to make decisions and merge onto the various roadways, Kisen said. “The 215 on-ramp onto I-80 in the canyon is kind of a very aggressive movement to get on, and also the offramp,” she said. “Coming straight across on I-80, what we’re trying to do is separate the flow of traffic a little more so you’re not competing with people trying to get on 215 southbound. “Less competing, less merging, less dealing with basically people going in other directions.” Please see Construction, A-2 Park City Mayor Andy Beerman on Tuesday is scheduled to deliver the State of the City address, a speech that is expected to review the accomplishments of the last year and, more importantly, outline a vision for the community’s future after months of talks between City Hall and rank-and-file Parkites. The unveiling of a community vision, designed to guide the municipal work plan in coming years, will likely highlight the address. Park City leaders, community members and a consultant tapped to assist with the so-called visioning efforts have held extensive talks about crafting the vision. It is the first such exercise since 2009, an 11-year period of change in the Park City that covers the strong emergence from the recession and the change in ownership of Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley Resort. The consulting firm City Hall tapped to lead the visioning efforts will also address the crowd at the State of the City event. The mayor in an interview said the State of the City will be part of a “deeper conversation” about a desire of Parkites to embrace the idea of bold change for the community. He said Parkites want City Hall to aggressively address issues like housing, transportation and social equity. “There’s a desire to accelerate those,” Beerman said. He acknowledged, though, that an acceleration of the work would require additional funds and more people assigned to the issues, or a diversion of current municipal resources. The visioning efforts highlighted topics like affordability, environmental leadership, transportation, sustainable tourism, arts and culture as well as the Park City economy. The mayor said he will also use the State of the City address to highlight accomplishments from 2019. They include City Hall’s closing on the acquisition of the Treasure acreage in a $64 million conservation deal, the most expensive in the history of the municipal government’s open space program, and creating a plan for the use of Bonanza Flat, another tract of City Hall-owned open space. Other accomplishments include the municipal government’s social equity efforts and the first phase of the Woodside Park workforce or otherwise restricted housing in Old Town, he said. A question-and-answer session with the Park City Council is also planned. Beerman in 2019 delivered a formal State of the Please see Address, A-7 Teachers call on lawmakers to boost education funding Demonstrations held in Park City as legislators consider state budget ALEXANDER CRAMER The Park Record Unity was the watchword for organizers of Wednesday’s teacher “walk-ins” at Park City School District elementary schools, a call for one message at a time when Utah legislators are debating funding levels for the 2020-2021 state budget. Teachers donned “red for ed” clothes, made posters and gathered outside schools before classes began to advocate for increased state education spending. “We have to be united in order to really secure the funding for public education we know our students need,” said Heidi Matthews, president of the Utah Education Association and former Treasure Mountain Junior High School librarian. 3 sections • 34 pages Classifieds .............................. C-7 Events Calendar ..................... C-6 Restaurant Guide.................. A-13 Scoreboard ............................. B-5 They say that message is that school districts need more funding from the state to attract and retain teachers, provide programming necessary for student success and sustain a functioning education system so that families looking to relocate don’t look elsewhere. Matthews said it no longer adds up for college students weighing careers to become teachers, leading to what she called a “teacher exodus.” Utah continues to rank last in per-pupil spending, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, behind states like Oklahoma, Idaho and Mississippi. According to 2017 data, the state paid $7,179 per pupil, which is $2,700 less than Colorado, $5,000 less than California and a whopping $16,000 less than the largest spender, New York. “We’ve done so well with so little for such a long time it’s catching up to us and we are losing, losing potentially great educators before they even step foot in our classrooms,” MatPlease see Funding, A-7 COURTESY OF THE PARK CITY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Teachers at Trailside Elementary School staged a “walk-in” Wednesday, calling for state lawmakers to increase public education funding. Similar demonstrations were held at the Park City School District’s three other elementary schools. VISITOR GUIDE Performers will dance the night away for a good cause Dance Tech Studios will present its annual benefit concert at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4, at Ecker Hill Middle School, 2465 Kilby Road. Admission is $10, and the proceeds will benefit Yes You Matter/LipNotes Foundation. For information, visit dancetechworld.com. |