Traffic slowed at the intersection of Kearns Boulevard and Monitor Drive on Friday morning, just before the start of the work day. Red and blue lights illuminated a pair of cars with minor damage pulled over onto the side of the roadway.
Fourteen hours earlier, an engineering planning firm hired by the Mountainland Association of Governments (MAG) identified the area as a hotspot for collisions in Park City. S.R. 224 and Ute Boulevard in the Snyderville Basin, a stretch of S.R. 248, Main Street in Kamas and downtown Coalville were listed as the other top sites for accidents throughout Summit County.
Avenue Consultants and Parametrix, which specialize in transportation and land development services, have been studying where crashes happen — and why — throughout Summit, Wasatch and Utah counties to help officials develop a safety action plan as part of the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program.
“We know that humans make mistakes, and we want to design a system so that when we do make mistakes the chances of serious injuries and fatalities are reduced because of the measures that we’ve taken,” said Charles Allen, project manager with Parametrix.
MAG will be able to pursue additional grants to build projects laid out in the safety action plan once it’s finalized. The multi-county government organization received $1 million in 2022 from the U.S. Department of Transportation through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which will contribute $1 billion a year for roadway and safety improvements until 2026.
Consultants analyzed five years of data to determine the top areas for car accidents as well as bike and pedestrian collisions in Summit County, and where injuries are the most severe or fatal. The information was presented to the public on Thursday during a virtual open house as the group looks to address problem areas throughout the Wasatch Back.
There were 3,558 collisions in Summit County between 2018 and 2022, not including on the interstate, ranking it ninth in the state for accidents. The highest number of collisions happened in 2019 with 847. It declined to 595 the following year. Accidents have since been on the rise, though the figure hasn’t reached pre-pandemic levels.
Around 3% of accidents in Summit County resulted in serious injury with less than 1% causing a fatality.
Nearly one-third of collisions occurred at night. Speed was a factor in 21% of accidents, and 21% of vehicles left the roadway in total. Around 3% of crashes involved active transportation users. Fifty pedestrians and 40 cyclists were hit, with 10 people and six riders sustaining severe or fatal injuries.
Most accidents happened in Park City. There were 1,595 total collisions between 2018 and 2022. The majority of them had no injuries and most occurred at Kearns Boulevard and Monitor Drive, which was also a hot spot for bike and pedestrian collisions. Around 2% of all accidents brought severe injury and 1% were fatal. These were most likely to occur at Deer Valley Drive and Marsac Avenue.
The Snyderville Basin had 1,148 crashes during the five years. Like Park City, 78% had no injury and 3% were severe. Most collisions happened in the Kimball Junction area with Landmark Drive the most dangerous for bikers and pedestrians.
Data showed 420 crashes in unincorporated Summit County with 68% causing no injuries. This area included a large span of roadway. S.R. 248 was identified as a hotspot for all collisions with the worst accidents happening on the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway. Active transportation users saw the most collisions on East Canyon Road.
There were 276 total collisions in South Summit between 2018 and 2022. Around 69% had no injury while 5% of crashes were severe. Most accidents occurred along Main Street in Kamas. However, pedestrians were more likely to be hit on S.R. 32 from Oakley to Kamas, with the most deadly collisions happening on the section of roadway in Peoa.
North Summit had 119 collisions during that time. The majority of them had no injuries, but 6% of accidents brought severe harm. Accidents happen most often in downtown Coalville, with Chalk Creek Road and Hoytsville Road listed as the spots for more serious crashes.
Consultants also tracked characteristics of each crash that occurred at rates higher than the state average.
Half of all accidents in North Summit and South Summit were caused by someone driving impaired. Around one-quarter of crashes in North Summit affected motorcyclists, while a similar number in South Summit involved aggressive drivers.
Park City and the Snyderville Basin had a large number of collisions occur at intersections, with 53% and 59% respectively. Teens were also involved in 27% of crashes in the Kimball Junction area, while adults 65 and older contributed to around a quarter of accidents in Park City and North Summit.
The findings will be used to help officials take a proactive approach as they try to develop countermeasure projects such as speed limit changes, rumble strips, signal time changes and more over the next three years.
Several community members who attended the open house raised questions about the number of wildlife collisions in Summit County, particularly along S.R. 32. The drive from Kimball Junction to Kearns Boulevard is the fifth-highest location in the state for large wildlife fatalities, according to a 2019 report. Some encouraged the consulting firm to consider a wildlife crossing or underpass as a potential solution.
However, the consulting firm pointed to the data and said conflicts between motorists and animals aren’t as high of a priority compared to the other types of collisions happening across Summit County.
The consultants plan to evaluate the hotspots for countermeasures that could improve safety and reduce the number of accidents. County officials will then generate a list of near, mid and long-term projects that will be evaluated by MAG as possible candidates for the Safe Streets for All implementation grants.
The safety analysis phase began in the fall. Consultants will spend the winter and spring identifying and prioritizing strategies from each county, which could be presented in the spring. MAG hopes to adopt the safety action plans soon after so it can create concept reports and apply for federal funding by the summer.
A roadway safety survey will be open through Dec. 20. The results will also help guide the group as it plans for future transportation improvements. It’s available at mountainlandsafestreets.org.