When it comes to construction and renovation it has not exactly been a quiet summer in the Park City area. As the community continues to grow, its infrastructure requires updating. While many of those improvements are still up for debate at city and county council meetings or at the state capitol, others have been underway for months. One need only drive from one end of town to the other, or from Park City west to Salt Lake City or east toward Wyoming, to see it.

S.R. 248
S.R. 248, or Kearns Boulevard as it’s known inside Park City, has been in vary- ing states of repair and construction since early July. A $2.9 million Utah Department of Transportation project includes repaving the length of the road from S.R. 224 to U.S. 40. The repaving work, as well as curb cuts to conform to federal standards for pedestrians (including the differently abled), were scheduled to be completed in late summer.

The most substantial stage of the project involved widening a 700-foot section of S.R. 248 as it curves near the intersection with Richardson Flat Road. The widening extends the road outward toward Silver Creek to accommodate a shoulder-running bus.

That bus lane could be a future component of a bus rapid transit system, which officials hope can help ease the area’s traffic problems.

UDOT is also planning to install a traffic light at the intersection of Richardson Flat Road and S.R. 248 sometime this winter.

A traffic light planned on S.R. 248 at the intersection of Browns Canyon Road is scheduled for completion this fall, as well.

S.R. 224
Summit County officials this summer took on a major repaving project in the Kimball Junction area, which included removing two inches of existing surface on everything west of S.R. 224 and repaving it.

Quinn’s Junction park-and-ride
Park City is moving forward with plans for a new park-and-ride lot at Quinn’s Junction, which would include nearly 500 stalls and may be completed in 2022. The additional bus lane made possible by UDOT’s widening work on S.R. 248, Park City officials have said, could be used to run passengers from the park-and-ride lot into town.

Other UDOT projects
According to UDOT, notable further projects recently completed or currently underway include:

• Rehabilitation of the eastbound I-80 interchange bridge from Echo Canyon Road in Emory, which should be completed by summer of 2022.

• Rehabilitation of I-80 from the Hi-Ute Ranch to Silver Creek Junction along with the Silver Creek and I-80 ramps and paving at the Silver Summit Interchange

• Pavement preservation on S.R. 302 at the Rockport State Park, including repaving the boat ramp parking lot and structural maintenance work

• Rehabilitation of the flyover ramp from northbound U.S. 40 to westbound I-80, including resurfacing of the ramp and replacement of concrete barriers

Looking ahead, the summer of 2022 does not appear to be any less busy. Work scheduled next summer includes median improvements and deck preservation on I-80, shoulder widening and rumble strip installation on the Mirror Lake Highway and retaining-wall repairs on S.R. 224 in Park City.

For more information on state, county and city transportation projects visit udot.utah.gov, summitcounty.org and parkcity.org.