Bill Ciraco in some ways is looking to the Park City past as he considers the future of the city.
A resident of Aspen Springs and a Parkite since 2020, Ciraco is among those in the community attempting to craft a solution to the community’s traffic issues. Ciraco, who is retired from the finance industry, in recent days has spurred discussion about the possibility of building a rail connection in an effort to reduce traffic along the S.R. 248 entryway.
Ciraco holds no public office in Park City, but he is attempting to generate interest in his vision for a train. He outlined a concept that would involve a rail connection between Richardson Flat, where a large parking lot is located, and somewhere along Bonanza Drive in the vicinity of the Iron Horse district. Under that concept, drivers would leave their vehicles at Richardson Flat and take the train into Park City. That scenario would reduce traffic inside the city, long a goal of City Hall leaders and the wider community.
Ciraco described a route using the Rail Trail corridor for a train and relocating the current Rail Trail uses to a new trail that would be built alongside the train route. The Rail Trail was created from a historic railroad spur.
“There was rail on that corridor up until about 1990,” he said, adding, “It’s as close to ready-to-go as you could possibly have.”
Ciraco as part of the vision also includes an aerial route via a gondola linking an Iron Horse terminus for the rail line with the Park City-side base area of Park City Mountain. The Iron Horse terminus would also put passengers in close proximity to the City Hall bus system.
Under the Ciraco scenario, someone would essentially be able to park at Richardson Flat, take a train to the area of the centrally located Iron Horse district and then opt for a gondola or a bus to reach their final destination.
It would take an extraordinary effort for the vision to become a reality. The planning would involve a variety of government jurisdictions. The project would also likely be priced into the tens of millions of dollars, and federal funding would almost certainly be sought.
There would also likely be neighborhood questions in Prospector, which is located close to the Rail Trail corridor, about the impact of a train route. There would also be a complex, and likely controversial, review process for a gondola link between the Iron Horse area where a rail line terminus would be located and Park City Mountain. There have been discussions for decades about aerial links in Park City, but only limited progress toward a system has been made over the years amid questions about costs, funding strategies and routes.
Ciraco, though, is publicizing the concept at a time when there continues to be deep-rooted concern about traffic in the Park City area, and the backups on S.R. 248 are some of the worst. People who live in parts of the Snyderville Basin, the East Side of Summit County and Wasatch County regularly use S.R. 248 as they drive to and from Park City. The line of cars during the morning commute stretches past U.S. 40 on some days. There is community talk of potentially dramatic steps that could be taken to reduce the congestion.
Ciraco plans to meet with the state representative whose district includes Park City after the annual legislative session ends and then begin to build a coalition of supporters. He hopes to win support from elected officials in Park City, Summit County and Wasatch County. Ciraco also wants to secure the backing of figures involved in the bidding for a Winter Olympics, perhaps the Games of 2030 or those of four years later. He said it is possible to build a train from Richardson Flat to the area of the Iron Horse district prior to the Olympics of 2030. The rail line could be extended to the east, such as toward Hoytsville, by the Olympics of 2034, Ciraco said. He noted the transportation funds that often are earmarked to a community that is preparing to host an Olympics.
“People want something transformative and bold,” he said.