Park Avenue Redesign Pilot Program

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Your Street Should Align with Your Values

Park City is rolling out a series of neighborhood and streetscape improvements that aim to enhance and reimagine the traditional roll of streets and roads in our mountain town. For several decades, cities and towns have prioritized vehicle through-put and parking vehicle storage above all else – streets were designed to park our cars and get us from point a. to point b. quickly.

Park City’s values have evolved over time. The recent Community Visioning process indicated that residents support a reprioritization of our long held values. There is a new desire to create neighborhood-centric streetscapes that elevate pedestrian safety and walkability, increase bicycle and public transit access, and offer a more welcoming environment by way of public art elements, creative crosswalk designs, and a host of natural elements (plants, flowers, trees, etc.). Park Avenue, from the Harvest restaurant to Jans and Cole Sport, has long been considered by the City for a major street reconstruction project. Street reconstruction is expensive and you live with the results for decades.

In fall 2020, Staff conducted extensive public outreach with adjacent Park Avenue residents and community stakeholders, including the Historic Park City Alliance (HPCA). Outreach efforts included this project website, stakeholder survey, door-to-door outreach, and project presentations. The stakeholder survey yielded 191 responses; 50% of responders stated parking was not important, and 90% indicated walkability was important. Survey respondents living on Park Avenue preferred no on-street parking.

Based on stakeholder input, Staff presented five alternatives for Council consideration. Council agreed to move forward with Alternative 1A during the September 17, 2020 meeting (report | minutes). The project was delayed due to weather, and notice was given that the project would resume in spring 2021 as soon as weather permits.


Alternative 1A: Uphill (Southbound) Bike Lane between Traffic Flow and Parking

Pros:

  • Designated 6 ft. bike lane for uphill (southbound) bicyclists.
  • Parking remains on west side of the street.
  • No center line – allows flexibility for motorists to safely shift within roadway to pass cyclists.
  • Northbound bikes (traveling downhill) share a lane with vehicles.
  • Eliminating some parking increases space and safety for bicycles.

Cons:

  • Parking eliminated on east side of street. Remaining parking becomes a residential permit zone with shared parking (residential permits and time limited spots) between 9th and 11th Streets.
  • Driver car doors open into bike lane.
  • No center line (concern to some).

The selected alternative includes adding a striped parking lane, placement of an advisory bike lane (ABL) on the west side of the roadway for southbound bikes, and markings for “sharrows” on the east side of the road. An ABL is a dashed line placed in the roadway to delineate the segment of the road set aside for cyclists. Given the relatively narrow section of this roadway dedicated for vehicles along Park Avenue, the dashed line allows motorists to use the ABL, after yielding to cyclists, to pass by vehicles coming in the opposite direction. The east side of the road will be designated as no parking.

Parking was tracked and analyzed on Park Avenue, between 9th Street and Deer Valley Drive, from December 2020 – March 2021. There are a total of 193 parking stalls on this stretch of the corridor, with an average daily use of 60 cars - a high of 78 and a low of 23 cars. With the new configuration, there will be a total of 91 parking stalls.


Park Avenue Restriping Plan:

  • Restriping begin will begin north of 9th Street. Time zone parking will remain on both sides of the street south of 9th Street (from 9th Street to Heber Ave)
  • North side of 9th Street, all parking on the east side of the Street will be removed
  • North side of 9th Street to 12th Street, parking on the west side of the Street will be shared between residential permits and a 2-hour time limit for short-term visitor parking
  • North of 12th Street, parking on the west side of the street will be residential permits only.


Project Schedule:

  • May 11 – Live message boards were activated at the start of the project and remained as needed. Parking was removed temporarily from both sides of Park Avenue from Deer Valley Drive to 9th Street;
  • May 12 – Striping began and the majority of work was completed by end of day;
  • May 12 - 15 – Bike lane painting; intersections were closed intermittently to vehicles accessing Park Avenue; and
  • May 15 - Pilot Project completed


Who’s listening?

Michelle Downard, Resident Advocate | michelle.downard@parkcity.org | 435.615.5109
Lynn Ware Peek, Community Liaison | lwp@parkcity.org | 435.615.5201

Your Street Should Align with Your Values

Park City is rolling out a series of neighborhood and streetscape improvements that aim to enhance and reimagine the traditional roll of streets and roads in our mountain town. For several decades, cities and towns have prioritized vehicle through-put and parking vehicle storage above all else – streets were designed to park our cars and get us from point a. to point b. quickly.

Park City’s values have evolved over time. The recent Community Visioning process indicated that residents support a reprioritization of our long held values. There is a new desire to create neighborhood-centric streetscapes that elevate pedestrian safety and walkability, increase bicycle and public transit access, and offer a more welcoming environment by way of public art elements, creative crosswalk designs, and a host of natural elements (plants, flowers, trees, etc.). Park Avenue, from the Harvest restaurant to Jans and Cole Sport, has long been considered by the City for a major street reconstruction project. Street reconstruction is expensive and you live with the results for decades.

In fall 2020, Staff conducted extensive public outreach with adjacent Park Avenue residents and community stakeholders, including the Historic Park City Alliance (HPCA). Outreach efforts included this project website, stakeholder survey, door-to-door outreach, and project presentations. The stakeholder survey yielded 191 responses; 50% of responders stated parking was not important, and 90% indicated walkability was important. Survey respondents living on Park Avenue preferred no on-street parking.

Based on stakeholder input, Staff presented five alternatives for Council consideration. Council agreed to move forward with Alternative 1A during the September 17, 2020 meeting (report | minutes). The project was delayed due to weather, and notice was given that the project would resume in spring 2021 as soon as weather permits.


Alternative 1A: Uphill (Southbound) Bike Lane between Traffic Flow and Parking

Pros:

  • Designated 6 ft. bike lane for uphill (southbound) bicyclists.
  • Parking remains on west side of the street.
  • No center line – allows flexibility for motorists to safely shift within roadway to pass cyclists.
  • Northbound bikes (traveling downhill) share a lane with vehicles.
  • Eliminating some parking increases space and safety for bicycles.

Cons:

  • Parking eliminated on east side of street. Remaining parking becomes a residential permit zone with shared parking (residential permits and time limited spots) between 9th and 11th Streets.
  • Driver car doors open into bike lane.
  • No center line (concern to some).

The selected alternative includes adding a striped parking lane, placement of an advisory bike lane (ABL) on the west side of the roadway for southbound bikes, and markings for “sharrows” on the east side of the road. An ABL is a dashed line placed in the roadway to delineate the segment of the road set aside for cyclists. Given the relatively narrow section of this roadway dedicated for vehicles along Park Avenue, the dashed line allows motorists to use the ABL, after yielding to cyclists, to pass by vehicles coming in the opposite direction. The east side of the road will be designated as no parking.

Parking was tracked and analyzed on Park Avenue, between 9th Street and Deer Valley Drive, from December 2020 – March 2021. There are a total of 193 parking stalls on this stretch of the corridor, with an average daily use of 60 cars - a high of 78 and a low of 23 cars. With the new configuration, there will be a total of 91 parking stalls.


Park Avenue Restriping Plan:

  • Restriping begin will begin north of 9th Street. Time zone parking will remain on both sides of the street south of 9th Street (from 9th Street to Heber Ave)
  • North side of 9th Street, all parking on the east side of the Street will be removed
  • North side of 9th Street to 12th Street, parking on the west side of the Street will be shared between residential permits and a 2-hour time limit for short-term visitor parking
  • North of 12th Street, parking on the west side of the street will be residential permits only.


Project Schedule:

  • May 11 – Live message boards were activated at the start of the project and remained as needed. Parking was removed temporarily from both sides of Park Avenue from Deer Valley Drive to 9th Street;
  • May 12 – Striping began and the majority of work was completed by end of day;
  • May 12 - 15 – Bike lane painting; intersections were closed intermittently to vehicles accessing Park Avenue; and
  • May 15 - Pilot Project completed


Who’s listening?

Michelle Downard, Resident Advocate | michelle.downard@parkcity.org | 435.615.5109
Lynn Ware Peek, Community Liaison | lwp@parkcity.org | 435.615.5201

Park Avenue Redesign Pilot Program

We'd love your feedback on the Park Avenue Redesign Pilot Program. Please share your comments and questions below.

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    I know that a center lane stripe has not been included to try to reduce speed, but it has made the road a bit dangerous as folks don't know where their lanes are. It could be a dashed line, even. Also, I have seen more than a couple cars parked along the no-parking side of the street--maybe painting the curbs red there would be helpful. I think breaking people's driving and parking habits has to be very obvious--right now the rules of the road and parking are really subtle.

    Brady asked almost 3 years ago

    Creating some challenges with this new pattern has been the difficulty in removing the old existing centerline stripe that has been creating confusion to drivers about where to drive.  To address this the City is using black paint to cover the old stripe to try and remove the obsolete pattern and reduce confusion.     

    In addition to painting over the old center line, the City is adding in transition striping at two-lane shift locations. The lane shifts occur because the road narrows around the library. By providing some guidance in these areas we are hoping to provide additional guidance to where the vehicles should end up after going through these transition areas. 

    No Parking signs have been placed on the east side of Park Avenue from Heber to Deer Valley Drive and the situation of illegally parked vehicles will continue to be monitored. If necessary to enforce the signage, it may become required to paint the entire curb red along the corridor.  

       

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    This is a horrible design, someone will die because of it. How did this ever get passed? What group, and who is on the group, that approved this. Absolute mess.

    katniss1012 asked almost 3 years ago

    One of the City's goals is to improve active transportation around town. The section of Park Avenue from Deer Valley Drive to Heber is used by cyclists and vehicles to access Old Town. The City has received many complaints over the years requesting that the City reduce speeding along this corridor while providing access for cyclists.  Since widening of the road to place a bike lane is not feasible we have to come up with unique solutions to address these requests.  

     

    The striping pattern placed over this last month was brought before and approved by City Council as a pilot project to experiment with what is called an advisory bike lane.  An advisory bicycle lane  is a roadway striping configuration that provides for two-way motor vehicle and non-motorized traffic using a center lane and “advisory” or edge lanes on either side. The center lane is dedicated to and shared by, motorists traveling in both directions. Cyclists or pedestrians have the right-of-way in the edge lanes but motorists can use the edge lanes, after yielding, to pass other vehicles.  

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    As a cyclist and local transportation driver, I don't have an issue with the redesign. Obviously based on comments listed here, education of unaware drivers is necessary. The dotted line on the west side of the street (uphill travel lane) means your vehicle can drive sharing the bike lane but MUST yield the bike lane to riders when they are present. The eastside lane (downhill travel) is a share lane meaning bicycle riders are allowed to use the whole lane and you CANNOT pass them. As to the comment of the multi-use path, it is dangerous for cyclists as we typically ride at a faster speed that is safe on the path (especially going downhill). Pedestrians with their long dog leashes pose a significant threat to cyclists. And cyclists are legally entitled to ride on the street.

    Rob Y asked almost 3 years ago

    Thank you for your feedback, Rob. 

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    This whole program is an enormous waste of tax payer dollars, puts a hazardous environment on Park Ave for cyclists, motorists and pedestrians, creates massive confusion and eliminates more than HALF of parking on Park Ave (ironic) according to your own figures. Makes no sense at all especially when there is already a bike path about 100 ft away in the park that runs the whole length up to Main St. This pilot program needs to be shut down.

    Collin Daybell asked almost 3 years ago

    Thank you for your feedback, Collin.

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    I love the bike lane but drivers are very confused without a center lane and are all over the road including into the bike lane. Please consider adding a broken yellow the line to separate cars going opposing directions.

    Barbara E asked almost 3 years ago

    Thank you for your feedback, Barbara.

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    Please reconsider and add the center line. This is a tourist town and the center line is needed so people unfamiliar with the area know that it is a 2 way street with the potential for oncoming traffic. It is dangerous.

    PC local asked almost 3 years ago

    Thank you for your feedback.

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    The new bike lane forces vehicles and buses to pull into oncoming traffic traveling to the South on Park Avenue. This creates a hazard and increase bus route times. TD Park City

    Trent Davis asked almost 3 years ago

    Thank you for your feedback, Trent.

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    Someone is going to get killed without the center line... This has been quite a week. I can only imagine what will happen once the visitors arrive. It seems like it should be a 9ne way. Please reconsider the lane lines.

    1384ParkAve asked almost 3 years ago

    Thank you for your feedback. It is appreciated and will be shared with our project team.

Page last updated: 20 May 2021, 04:35 PM