Park City advances Gordo Property as preferred Park-and-Ride site after environmental cleanup

The Gordo property, which is situated east of the Treasure Mountain Junior High School site along SR-248. Photo: Park City Municipal

PARK CITY, Utah – Park City is moving forward with plans to develop a new park-and-ride facility on the Gordo property, a critical piece of the what the city has said is a broader strategy to reduce traffic congestion and promote a “park-once” community. On Thursday, the Park City Council authorized staff to begin designing a park-and-ride on roughly 22 acres of city-owned land along state Route 248, just west of the Richardson Flat Road intersection.

The decision comes after years of planning and completion of a major environmental remediation project on the site. Historically, the Gordo parcel contained mining-impacted soil and other contaminated material from Park City’s past activities, making it unsuitable for development without cleanup. A report by cleanup company Terracon cited the soil there was contaminated with dangerous levels of arsenic, cadmium, and lead – the same contaminants that classified the Treasure Mountain Junior High School site as an EPA Superfund site.

Over the past several years, Park City participated in a voluntary environmental cleanup program with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, excavated and hauled away about 50,000 tons of contaminated soil, and is now preparing a site management plan to prevent future exposure. The contaminated soil was trucked to the Three-Mile Landfill in Coalville.

Developing the Gordo parcel is also tied to a council decision tied to Deer Valley’s future Snow Park development. In November of 2025 that partnership was formalized, allowing both the city and the resort to contribute up to $15 million each toward no more than two transportation-related projects. The agreement is intended to ensure Deer Valley has adequate offsite parking before it replaces the Snow Park surface lots with a transit center, ski beach and new base village.

City transportation planners say they have long identified additional park-and-ride capacity near Quinn’s Junction as a way to reduce vehicle trips into Park City and shift more commuters and visitors onto transit. While there is already a park-and-ride lot at Richardson Flat immediately east of the Gordo property, officials say the Gordo site would provide more convenient access for drivers coming off U.S. 40 and SR-248, shortening the approach and reducing unnecessary backtracking that some commuters currently face.

Senior Transportation Planner Conor Campobasso noted that many motorists now bypass the Richardson Flat lot because of its indirect access.

“A lot of the times people will see the Richardson Flat park-and-ride as it sits today anyway, and they’re like, ‘I’m not going to turn down this road to then drive a couple miles to then park, wait for a bus and then take that same road back to 248,’ so this is just a little bit of a cleaner path for them.”

Another key advantage of the Gordo site, city officials said, is the opportunity to provide amenities that aren’t available at Richardson Flat, such as restrooms for travelers and a break room for bus drivers — improvements planners say will enhance the commuter experience.

Councilmembers approved Gordo as the first-phase park-and-ride, with Richardson Flat designated as a phase-2 overflow lot in a 4-1 vote. Councilmember Ed Parigian dissented, saying he wanted more information before voting in favor of the project.

City staff will now incorporate the Gordo park-and-ride design into the Re-create 248 Environmental Impact Study, which launches in April and includes plans for side-running bus lanes along SR-248. The site is expected to serve as a key transit connection point for that project. After completing the design process, the council will determine the number of parking spaces and finalize cost estimates.