Park City mulls the possibility of a traffic division

Park City Police Department. Photo: Michele Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah — Everyone could agree on one thing at the Park City Council meeting on Thursday — the traffic this winter was unprecedented. The peak days were higher in density and magnitude.

City staff discussed mitigation options for next winter with the council, providing three different alternatives for traffic operations:

1. The status quo, which costs $75,000 (considered a ‘medium’ mitigation level)
2. Presidents Week level for the entire winter, which would cost the city $900,000 (considered a ‘high’ mitigation level)
3. Create a brand new traffic division for $3 million (the ‘highest’ mitigation level)

A representative from the Park City Police Department spoke in favor of creating a new division. He said that managing all of the current traffic demands of the city with their limited resources has been difficult.

“If our police department feels like they are being called into these situations, and they don’t have the manpower as it is to operate, then it sounds like something like the traffic division would make a lot of sense,” Park City Councilor Becca Gerber said.

Outside of peak season, the division would focus on other traffic issues around the city, whether it’s speed enforcement or the brake check area on Marsac Ave.

“The idea is, hey, at a high level, do you think it’d be nice to hire some people who know that they’re in a traffic division and as different challenges arise regarding traffic, we will meet those challenges,” Park City Councilor Max Doilney said.

“Some days, it’s ingress and egress, other days it’s an arts festival. It’s a new tool in the toolbox, that if the police department is asking for it, I’m pretty much always going to be like — if that’s what do you guys need, than I’m in favor of exploring that.”

Councilors discussed the possibility of resorts playing a role in contributing to the creation of the division.

“This is something we can absolutely work for and work towards,” Park City Manager Matt Dias said.

There were also discussions of stepping up enforcement around the community. Currently, parking services only issues tickets with fines to repeat offenders. If a vehicle has no history of tickets or has “exceptionally older tickets,” a warning is issued. Very few tickets are issued to residents (less than 100 per year).

The most habitual violators are Old Town workers, according to the city.

Between Dec. 1, 2021 and March 21, 2022, 980 total traffic stops have been conducted in Park City, along with 816 warnings being issued, and 164 total citations written.

“We don’t want people to be making jokes that — come to Park City and get a ticket,” Park City Councilor Jeremy Rubell said. “But, I wouldn’t be offended if people said I better follow the rules in Park City or I’m going to get a ticket.”