Park City Municipal staffers are crafting a long-term park-and-ride strategy in the Quinn’s Junction area to mitigate traffic congestion along S.R. 248 and their goal is to identify a location for a lot by the summer.Their effort is a response to a challenge last month by Mayor Nann Worel in her a nnual State of Park City addresss to make progress on the project, according to a staff report.“Park City recognizes the importance of enhancing PR options along S.R. 248 for day skiers, commuters, special events and construction mitigation,” the report says. “Together, these measures not only reduce congestions but help protect our neighborhoods from cut through traffic and commercial areas from circling.”The City Council on Thursday reviewed two possible sites, the Richardson Flat park-and-ride and the Gordo parcels.The Richardson Flat park-and-ride was built in 2008 and has a capacity of 750 vehicles, with 650 reserved for public use. The city and United Park City Mines entered into a 99-year ground lease for the lot in April 2010.Among the pros of this location are its large size with potential for expansion, nearby land that’s available for potential development and direct transit service to Park City Heights.The cons include environmental concerns, a lack of municipal ownership and an inconvenient location with poor U.S. 40 access.The Gordo parcels, on the north side of S.R. 248/Richardson Flat Road, were purchased over several years beginning in 1996. The site is undergoing environmental cleanup. Once the Utah Department of Environmental Quality completes a review, the parcels can be redeveloped for any commercial, recreational or residential use, the report says.Its pros are it’s an easy, convenient visible location for vehicles coming off U.S. 40, and has a large size with potential for expansion and ownership by Park City Municipal.Listed as cons are the highest and best use might not be a park-and-ride, undetermined needs from other city departments and the difficulty exiting the lot during rush times could be difficult if traffic is backed up to the area from Highway 40.A third site, Utah Department of Transportation land in Quinn’s Junction, has been removed from the scenario. Alex Roy, a senior transportation planner, said new developments coming to the area were not as compatible with a park-and-ride lot.Park City had planned in 2016 to put a lot with 465 parking spaces on the site, which is on the northeast side of U.S. 40, the staff report says. The city got federal grant funding of $3,850,932, obtained approvals from UDOT and planned to develop the site for a total of $5,218,190. However, the project was discontinued in May 2022 to enhance services at Richardson Flat.A two-location plan also is an alternative. Under this alternative, one location could be a daily park-and-ride location with elevated year-round transit express services with supporting amenities, such as restrooms and bus charging. A secondary location would have lower service levels, mainly for heavy vehicle overflows due to large community events, construction mitigation and other park-and-ride needs that do not require year-round public transit services.Councilor Ed Parigian said he would rather not do anything with Gordo at this point, except maybe as a little secondary lot.“I don’t want to take away from potential use of Gordo for transit or public works,” he said.Councilor Tana Taly said she likes the idea of using Gordo for daily parking and Richardson Flat for overflow parking, an arrangement that would not add more traffic in Pacific Heights.“The reason I like Gordo is it’s city-owned. There’s no negotiation with anyone else,” Taly said. “We’re pretty close to no delays. We could actually really think about doing something this summer.”The staff plans to get more information on travel times to the lots, frequency of transit service, environmental issues and the feasibility of splitting Gordo to provide an option to put a city facility there.The post Park City considering sites for a park-and-ride lot in Quinn’s Junction appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less