Vote on Quinn’s Junction Park and Ride postponed indefinitely

If approved, the project would have created 465 parking stalls along Old Highway 40 near SR-248. Photo: Park City Municipal Corporation

PARK CITY, Utah — The Park City Council moved to postpone indefinitely a vote on the Quinn’s Junction Park and Ride at their meeting on Thursday.

If approved, the project would have created 465 parking stalls along Old Highway 40 near SR-248.

Summit County Councilor Doug Clyde told the council Thursday during public input that the county doesn’t have plans to fix the intersection anytime soon.

A city staff report says the intersection will be in “failing condition in 2026.”

“It’s never going to get the priority level,” he said.

“We’re always going to have higher priorities and they’re probably called one of those other junctions… It may be, that you could come to us and say ‘please move the damn road it’s the most important thing in the world,’ and maybe we’d say yeah. But, nobody has come to us,” Clyde said. “We haven’t been talked to.”

Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) Region 2 Director Robert Stewart told the council Thursday that UDOT “likes this Park and Ride lot. And if this Park and Ride lot is actually successful and jam-packed with cars, we see that as a success.” He said the department can step in to fix transportation problems. “This is part of the solution for this area,” he said.

Councilors Tana Toly, Jeremy Rubell, and Ryan Dickey expressed that they were not ready to move forward with the development.

Dickey said he wants to document the level of engagement that Summit County and High Valley Transit want to have in the project. He said he wasn’t worried about inflation and funding risks with the delay. The council previously delayed a vote on the project in March.

The city has received millions from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) that is earmarked for the Park and Ride. Over $3.5 million has been held in abeyance since 2019. City staff voiced concern about the influence it could have on decisions for future funding.

Dickey also said he wants the city to probe both Park City Mountain and Deer Valley Resort about their commitment to transit connecting to the lot. Toly echoed that comment — “Why would they negotiate with us for the cost after we’ve built it? We’re already saying we’re gonna have transportation there, whether you come along or not,” she said.

“So I think this is our opportunity to negotiate with them to pay for the transportation that’s going to their resort. If we just build it, and then say ‘oh yeah, can you give us the money?’ They’re not going to do that.”

Rubell said “what we’re really talking about is that movement from Highway 40 to the Quinn’s Park and Ride proposed location. One of the mitigations that was in that report was to not allow that movement — to not allow the left turn.

“But we can’t do that because there are businesses there and they probably would have something to say about it, rightfully so. If we could, then it would be an easy yes tonight.”

Councilor Max Doilney, who supported moving forward alongside Becca Gerber, called the county’s current commitment to the project “squishy.” Doilney said he thinks “the resorts will come along when we set the parameters around it… I think we can hold their feet to the fire a little bit.” He later said he was afraid to call for a vote, for fear of killing the project. “I think you’re asking for a little bit too much right now.”

“We were presented a list of opportunities from UDOT that said, we’re happy to work with you. We think this is a good idea, and we will work with you to make it successful. And we’re saying we’re going to walk away from it,” Gerber said.

“No, they said if you break it, we’ll help you fix it,” Rubell replied.

There was discussion of putting the Quinn’s Park and Ride on the joint Park City Council-Summit County Council meeting in May, with the possibility of it returning to the PC Council in June.