Smart way to reduce traffic into Park City

As we prepare to vote for three new members of the Park City council in November and are reviewing their platform, each candidate acknowledges that we ought to do something about traffic, yet no one is able to articulate a tangible strategy that would tangibly affect that particular problem that paralyses Park City during its peak visitation periods. 

This made me immediately think about congestion pricing. If you haven’t heard of it, the system consists at charging users of public goods and services that are subject to congestion through excess demand, to have access. It could apply to use of public transit, electricity, telephones and of course, road access, among other things. 

Since we’re looking to reduce traffic congestion in Park City, this strategy could manage congestion by regulating demand without increasing supply (adding roadways or parking spots). The idea isn’t new. Back in 1975, Singapore was the first country to introduce congestion pricing on its roads. 

Since then, the practice has spread to cities around the world, including London, Stockholm, Milan, and Gothenburg, Sweden, and even smaller towns, like Durham, England; Znojmo, Czech Republic; and Valletta, Malta.

 It’s also been proposed in New York City and San Francisco. Four general types of systems are available: a cordon area around a city center, with charges for passing the cordon line; area wide pricing, that charges for being inside that area; city center toll ring, with toll collection surrounding the city; and corridor or single facility pricing, where access to a lane or a facility is controlled. 

Congestion pricing can be fixed (the same at all times of day and days of the week), variable (set in advance to be higher at typically high-traffic times), or dynamic (varying according to actual conditions). 

The municipal limits of Park City define where most of the action is (access and egress to and from Main Street, Deer Valley and Park City, there would only be two gates needed in winter, on both routes 224 and 248. 

A toll amount would have to be set and rules established. I’m thinking of rules for City residents, key personnel (teachers, police, firefighters, medical staff) business tenants and their employees, support service personnel, week-end visitors, destination tourists, etc. 

In a future blogs I will attempt to tackle the details of that plan. Just stay tuned…