City Hall on its website has posted a set of tips geared toward Parkites who must navigate through the city during the Sundance Film Festival, including suggestions about avoiding the traffic.

Dubbed a ‘locals guide,’ the one-page document that was on the website midweek dates to the 2011 festival. The tips, though, are general in nature and apply to Sundance this year as well.

“Sundance is a hectic and wild time in Park City,” the locals guide says.

Some of the tips include:

  • that drivers should attempt to avoid the intersection of Main Street and Heber Avenue, which the locals guide says “has a potential to back-up in any situation.” It says the intersection is heavily traveled by pedestrians during the festival. The document suggests people driving to Main Street use Deer Valley Drive and Marsac Avenue.
  • that drivers should be aware of back-ups on Park Avenue, which the locals guide says starts to become congested at 3 p.m. each day. The traffic lasts until after 10 p.m., the document says, noting that Sundance operates a screening room at the Park City Library and Education Center on Park Avenue. The guide suggests drivers use Deer Valley Drive to head to Main Street instead of Park Avenue.
  • that there could be heavy traffic on Kearns Boulevard outside the Eccles Center, which is Sundance’s largest Park City-area theater. The guide recommends people not drive on Kearns Boulevard at times when the movie crowds are entering or exiting a screening. The guide indicates traffic could be bad for up to 90 minutes at those times.
  • to avoid driving on some streets at the end of the ski day, roughly at 4 p.m. The guide says traffic could be bad as the skiers leave Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley Resort. It mentions the skier traffic could be heavy on Lowell Avenue, Empire Avenue and the lower section of Deer Valley Drive.
  • heading to the Main Street post office prior to 1 p.m. on days during the festival. Traffic usually gets worse on Main Street in the afternoon and in the evening. There are a few parking spots outside the post office for people heading inside.
  • a suggestion that people call restaurants ahead of time to make reservations. The locals guide, though, also mentions that restaurants are normally packed or rented out during Sundance. It says someone might “look for restaurants off the beaten path (off of Main Street).” The restaurants not on Main Street “generally have more availability for reservations,” the locals guide says.

    The locals guide is available on City Hall’s website, www.parkcity.org . Select the ‘Get Sundance Information’ option from the “I Want To…” dropdown menu at the top of the front page.