Park City almost hit the brakes on an estimated $100 million improvement project nearly a decade in the making as new City Council members raised concerns about the updated cost and value of the design.Representatives from the High Valley Transit District met with the Summit County Council and Park City Council for a joint meeting on Monday to provide an update about the bus rapid transit project. However, members of the City Council were accused of trying to figure “out a way to gum up the works” just as those involved approached a critical stage in the process.High Valley Transit is well into the design phase for the S.R. 224 improvement project, which would create dedicated transit lanes and bus stops from Kimball Junction to Old Town, and plans to select a contractor next month. While everyone from the county was on board with the proposal, a majority of the City Council indicated they had reservations about it.City Councilor Bill Ciraco asked to see more schematics and data. He also noted the total estimated cost nearly doubled, yet City Hall might be asked to triple its contribution. City Councilor Ed Parigian questioned the negative impacts the bus rapid transit project could have within the city limits. Jeremy Rubell, also on the City Council, said the issue was whether there was enough value for the money being spent.County Councilor Roger Armstrong was confused about what the newest elected city officials were asking for in terms of delivery. He said something has to be started and completed within a reasonable amount of time. Armstrong criticized Ciraco, Parigian and Rubell as slowing down the progress on something that officials have been working on for almost 10 years. He noted something similar happened last year when the city and county considered creating a joint housing authority, which stalled when Park City officials raised concerns about the overall benefits of the program.Rubell acknowledged it was a fair comparison, but he said the problem is a lack of consensus and a failure to answer lingering questions. He said the city wants to collaborate with Summit County and High Valley Transit instead of being told what it’s going to do. Rubell and his dissenting colleagues were adamant that they weren’t saying, “no,” they just wanted more time to mull the project over and for staff’s input to be included.County Councilors Canice Harte and Malena Stevens as well as Caroline Rodriguez, the executive director of High Valley Transit, also acknowledged “resistance” from a few of the City Council members. They advocated for proper planning to ensure the success of the bus rapid transit project — something they said city and county staff have been working on for a long time.“As a county, we’re committed to this project, understanding what the total costs are likely to be at this point and that there’s some portion of that that we’re going to need to pay for,” Stevens said.The remaining two city councilors, Ryan Dickey and Tana Toly, were quick to offer their vocal support for the bus rapid transit project. Toly emphasized the positive impact the improvements would have on small business owners like herself who rely on people coming in and out every day for work. Dickey was sympathetic to his fellow City Council members’ concerns about the rising price, but he also acknowledged the long history of the project.“It’s pretty simple for me. It’s sort of unthinkable to me that we would back out of the BRT project after working on this for several years,” Dickey said. He was open to pausing a formal decision on whether City Hall would reaffirm its support to High Valley Transit until more information is acquired. Yet Rodriguez was clear that she wanted a decision made this week on whether the two councils support the bus rapid transit project.“Do we have commitment that your staff and your council are fully engaged in this project to the point of being champions? Are you dedicated to this project and getting it done? Because if the answer is no, then we have to approach this in a totally different way, and we are past that. We are past the point of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars delaying and reworking,” Rodriguez said. “The data shows this is the project. The community says this is the project. We need to move forward and it’s going to cost us so much more money to delay again and rework things again … when all of that has been done multiple times over multiple years.”Summit County, Park City and High Valley Transit agreed to continue collaborating on the bus rapid transit project process. All 10 city and county councilors as well as Park City Mayor Nann Worel agreed they’re committed to the success of the project, offering vocal support.The post Concerns about rising costs nearly stall bus rapid transit project appeared first on Park Record.