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Show A sign oflthe times: Stop light is on its way It's official. Park City will be the recipient of a stop light at the intersection of Park and Empire Avenues by the end of June, according to a spokesman for the Utah Department of Transportation. The intersection is currently the winter bottleneck for Park City resort users and downtown traffic and will in the future be the intersection to the Deer Valley Belt Route. According to Jim Naegle of UDOT's Division of Safety, the long awaited traffic signal is the state's responsibility responsibi-lity because Park Avenue is part of Utah Highway 224. Park City's stop light is approximately fifth on a list of signals to be installed state-wide this spring, he said. The intersection of Park and Empire has long been a thorn in the side of the local police department during ski season. According to Police Chief Frank Bell, Park City spends thousands of dollars annually patrolling and directing traffic at the intersection during peak ski months. Bell has been requesting the light a number of years now. And UDOT officials nave been studying traffic patterns at the intersection and highway 224 to find if the roadway required a stop light. Historically, however, UDOT has taken surveys in the spring arid fall when Park City roads are not particularly busy. As UDOT again put out its traffic counters along the road this May, Bell and other city officials voiced their indignation. City Councilman Jim Doilney contacted Summit County's representative in the State House of Representatives, Glenn Brown. Brown contacted UDOT last week with the concerns of the Citv Council and Police Department. He found the silver traffic counters lining the highway and the installation of a stop light are not necessarily related. Park City and Snyderville traffic patterns win continue to be monitored even though the stop light will soon be a reality, according to Naegle, who said intersections are assigned stop lights on the basis of accidents. And while UDOT statistics show Park City is just now busy enough to require a light at Park and Empire, overall traffic in the area has more than doubled in a 10-year period beginning in 1971. Mike Roshek, Project Design Engineer for UDOT's District Two, said that during spring and fall months an average of 2500 cars a day traveled along Highway 224. By 1981, that number had increased to 5,945 cars a day. On a peak day during the ski season in 1982 over 14,000 autos travelled the route. Traffic patterns will continue to be studied along Highway 224, Roshek said, to determine the need to upgrade the highway to four lanes. While the Park City area now has a recreational orientation, growth data suggests that in the future the greatest demands on the highvay will be five-day-a-week commuter traffic, he said. "We're going to see a great change in the character of the Snyderville Basin," Roshek said. Vf Roshek explained that traffic surveys conducted during off-peak tourist season provide the commuter data. According to the UDOT plan, right-of-way w il' "tegin to be purchased in 1985 for the eventual widening of the highway. |
