Summit County and Park City officials say they are desperately working to come up with innovative ways to get residents and visitors out of their cars to reduce traffic in the county’s main corridors.
But despite pleas from the public that “the problem is right now,” officials say they need more time to effectively deal with the issue.
“My greatest fear is that as a community, we will not have the patience to allow staff and policy makers to properly plan for the future and we will be driven into making bad decisions that lead to more bad decisions,” said Kent Cashel, long-range transportation planner for Park City. “We don’t need a lot of time, but we need some space to get that done.”
Cashel’s comments were part of a broader panel discussion on Thursday, hosted by the Park City Project for Deeper Understanding titled: “Transportation’s hard choices: more lanes or fewer cars?” The discussion touched on various transportation-related topics, such as funding and partnerships, and featured six panelists who represent various interests throughout the county.
The panelists were: Park City Council member Andy Beerman; Alison Butz, the executive director of the Historic Park City Alliance; Summit County Council Chair Kim Carson; Cashel, long-range transportation planner for Park City; Summit County Engineer Leslie Crawford; and Shawn Seager, Wasatch County transportation.
“I feel the growing pressure on my officials to get something done,” he said. “But these are big and expensive, long-enduring projects that need to be done right. If we are given that space, we can accomplish it.”
Transportation creeps into most conversations at both the county and Park City levels. The panelists used the discussion as an opportunity to update residents on the direction being taken to address traffic congestion.
Residents don’t want wider roads, flyovers, or bridges, which then requires county staff to look at alternative solutions, Crawford said.
“The future of transportation is wide open and it has things and items and fuels that we can’t dream about at this moment,” Crawford said.
Staffers recently unveiled a proposal for County Council about enrolling in a trip planner application, RideAmigos.com. The application guides users to various modes of travel to reach their destination.
“I’m really excited about this,” Crawford said “This takes it to a whole other level and it creates a lot of different alternatives.”
The County Council is also supporting the creation of a Transportation Citizen Advisory Committee and partnering with Park City on other marketing campaigns to encourage residents and visitors to take alternative modes of transportation.
“There is no one solution for this,” Beerman said. “The ease and use of electronics appeals to a lot of people and we have many tools we can use going forward that I think will help a portion of our population to get around better.”
Rather than asking the panelists questions, audience members posed their own versions of transportation fixes, including park-and-ride lots along State Road 224 to better connect the neighborhoods to the transit system
“I think we will have to extended park-and-rides,” said Becky Yih, a Bear Hollow resident who attended the discussion. “I would like to see increased use of park-and-rides and I’m a little worried they are only thinking about putting 20 spots at the Kimball Junction Transit Center.”
But Yih said she is “really happy” that there are so many people involved in this discussion.
“I’m glad to hear that so many of them are so involved and thinking about this all the time,” Yih said. “Everyone needs to stay aware of the direction things are going and to get your voice out when you can, though.”
Officials spent much of the discussion reminding the audience that everyone is forgetting an obvious solution to the transportation issue: themselves.
“We are the problem,” Carson said. “The majority of our problem is local traffic. If we can change our behavior, we could help solve the problem. Would you rather change your behavior or have a higher tax rate?”
Butz said encouraging the local workers and merchants to change people’s perceptions about getting out of their cars is key.
“People need a reason not to drive,” Butz said. “We need to look at multiple ways to be able to get people around.”