With
this year's Sundance Film Festival set to begin Thursday, visitors and Park
City residents should be ready to brace themselves for a hectic traffic
weekend. With free public transit options available, however, filmgoers won't
have to succumb to road rage.
"Don't
drive cars, ride the bus," said Brooks Robinson, Senior Transportation
Planner with Park City. "We're a pretty walkable town and we're not
expecting bad weather."
The
joint Park City/Summit County bus line will continue to run on its normal
schedule and there will also be free Festival shuttle buses. This year will
again see the shared shoulder concept implemented on State Road 224 northbound
to allow bus traffic to move faster during congested traffic times.
The
Utah Department of Transportation has installed the shared shoulder signs,
which allow buses to drive on the shoulder during traffic congestion, on S.R.
224 northbound from Cutter Lane to Newpark Boulevard. Whether the shared
shoulder concept will continue after Sundance remains to be seen. UDOT will be
restriping S.R. 224 this summer as part of a repaving project.
Summit
County Public Works Director Derrick Radke said he also expects a lot of
congestion at Kimball Junction.
"It'll
be a busy time. I encourage people to not get on roads at peak skier loadout
and commuter hours if you can help it," Robinson said, adding that Martin
Luther King, Jr. Day adds to traffic congestion. "Leave a little earlier
or later or stay and have dinner.
"
Park
City contracts with Lewis Stages for shuttling people to theater venues, and
Robinson said those buses as well as the public buses are usually full. He
urged festival goers not to worry too much about traffic if they are using
public transit.
"Only
a couple miles of road will be going slow," Robinson said. "It will
be situation normal [like during] previous years."
To
view the Park City/Summit County bus line routes and schedule, visit parkcity.org, select 'Government,' 'City
Directory,' then 'Transit Bus,' or call 435-615-5301. To view the Sundance
shuttle service routes and schedule, visit sundance.org/festival, select 'Attend' and
click 'Getting Around.'
