People driving on Marsac Avenue should keep better tabs on the speedometer.
The Park City Police Department will likely be giving tickets to some speeding drivers who previously would have received warnings for the same offense, a high-ranking Police Department official said.
The new thinking comes shortly after state transportation officials posted new speed-limit signs on Marsac Avenue increasing the limit to 25 mph from the 20 mph it had been for years.
Phil Kirk, a police captain who oversees the patrol division, said in an interview speeding on Marsac Avenue was a “continual problem” when the limit was 20 mph.
“We probably will be less lenient now that the speed limit is 25. It becomes more dangerous,” Kirk said.
The stretch of Marsac Avenue between the Old Town roundabout and the Hillside Avenue intersection is now posted at the 25 mph.
The Police Department regularly conducts speeding patrols on Marsac Avenue, particularly along the stretch between Hillside Avenue and the Marsac Building. The Sandridge parking lot is among the spots where officers are frequently seen monitoring traffic.
Kirk said most drivers pulled over on Marsac Avenue receive warnings rather than tickets. He said it is not clear whether the Police Department will conduct additional patrols on Marsac Avenue given the high number on the road already.
A speed trailer that digitally displays how fast a driver is traveling remained in place along Marsac Avenue early in the week. Park City officials position the moveable speed trailers in trouble spots throughout the city. Kirk said the department will likely position a speed trailer on Marsac Avenue frequently in response to the change in the speed limit.
Kirk said the Police Department, meanwhile, will continue to regularly patrol Marsac Avenue as drivers familiarize themselves with the higher speed limit. He also said the police will work with the Park City engineer and the Utah Department of Transportation as the 25 mph speed limit is evaluated. Kirk expects data about driver speeds, accidents and tickets will be studied later.
Police officers often conduct traffic patrols during down time on their shifts, and sometimes the officers pull over a significant number of drivers in a short time span.
From mid-2009 to mid-2010, the most recent fiscal year for which data is readily available, 9,310 drivers were pulled over in Park City, according to Police Department data. During the 2010 calendar year, the Police Department issued 10,103 citations. Most of those are believed to have been issued to drivers for moving violations.
The faster speed limit was posted on Marsac Avenue in the last three weeks. There is a theory at City Hall that the speed limit should have been 25 mph all along, but someone in the neighborhood might have preferred a lower speed limit and then purchased and posted the 20 mph signs on their own. The theory holds that nobody realized the posted speed limit was erroneous for years. Other officials, both in Park City and at the Utah Department of Transportation, could have their own theories about why the 20 mph was erroneously posted for so many years but have not spoken about them publicly.
Marsac Avenue, which is part of the state highway system, runs from the roundabout to Empire Pass. It is regularly used by people heading to and from Old Town as well as people who are driving to points in Deer Valley like Silver Lake Village and Empire Pass. There is a row of houses and other residential properties along Marsac Avenue. People who live there regularly walk across the road as they head to and from Main Street and other points in Old Town.