The Park City Police Department, responding to what some see as heavy traffic during the holidays, took steps to try to relieve the congestion
Lt. Phil Kirk said the police have worked with Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley Resort to coordinate a plan to handle the traffic from the resorts. He said sergeants have been assigned to assist with traffic at each of the resorts, for instance.
Kirk, meanwhile, also said that the resorts have helped by offering better assistance from parking attendants.
“We’ve asked for the ski resorts to work with us on this,” Kirk said.
He said the police are also partnering with the Utah Department of Transportation, which operates the traffic lights in the West Side of Summit County.
Kirk said UDOT and the police are timing the traffic lights to give drivers heading away from the resorts more time in the afternoon.
The lights are located at intersections heavily traveled by people heading to and from the ski resorts and extend to those on S.R. 224 to Kimball Junction.
Also the police have stationed an officer at the Old Town roundabout to direct traffic and have used traffic cones there.
“Traffic problems were getting worse,” Kirk said.
He said the police have fielded between three and five telephone complaints since the holidays from both Parkites and visitors.
“There are people not happy about the congestion,” Kirk said.
He said the snowy weather also hampered traffic and the snows forced the police to shift officers from traffic patrols to accident investigations.
“You can’t eliminate the problems completely,” he said about the traffic. “You do the best you can.”