When I ask friends and neighbors if they’re aware that SR 224 is going to be widened significantly to accommodate new north and south bus lanes, I am almost invariably met with squinting and a faraway look, as if I had summoned a vague or deep memory. The Bus Rapid Transit planning process (https://sr224brt.com) has been in the works for so many years that it’s hard to remember where it all started or imagine that anything concrete will result.
Now the chickens have come home to roost: Starting in 2024, SR 224 between the Kimball Junction Transit Center and near SR 248 (Kearns Boulevard) will be widened as much as 33 feet in some sections of the roadway. This will increase the asphalt from the current 82 feet to 115 feet shoulder to shoulder.
Next time you travel on SR 224, try to visualize what this means for the land on either side of the highway. Then try to visualize the plight of our local deer, moose and elk crossing six lanes of traffic, plus new curbs, gutters and paths.
We have all witnessed the bloody carnage along SR 224. The current roadway has been studied to determine how to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions, with no solutions for wildlife connectivity across SR 224 as of yet. Despite the recently lowered (though inconsistently-enforced) speed limit and wildlife warning signs, the carnage continues.
What to do? Make it worse by widening the road, with no accommodation for animals incorporated into the plan? How did transportation planning for a wider roadway occur in a vacuum?
Many localities around the world, including here in Summit County, have built wildlife overpasses and underpasses to provide safe passage for animals. A growing field of study called road ecology offers expertise on where and how to provide safe passage for our wildlife.
After much public input, UDOT and DWR built a successful crossing with fencing to guide wildlife over Interstate 80 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjNk6RG5pgc ) at Parley’s Summit in 2018, reducing vehicle-wildlife collisions as much as 90% in that area. Why not one or more simpler crossings over or under SR 224, providing a natural extension of the surrounding landscape for wildlife connectivity, with or without the planned BRT lanes?
Park City’s Vision 2020 document stated that the city could do more to protect wildlife from busy traffic corridors: “Participants highlighted that Park City could be doing more regarding … protecting wildlife from busy traffic corridors.” (https://lab.future-iq.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Park-City-Final-Vision-Report.pdf. See pages 15-16.)
The non-profit organization Save People Save Wildlife (http://www.savepeoplesavewildlife.org ) is collecting letters from the public supporting wildlife crossings on SR 224. Over 500 letters have been received to date. Residents can submit letters of support to: [email protected].
We can do more than squint at the planned expansion of SR 224 or mourn the helpless animals trying to cross it. For starters, the newly reconstituted Park City Council could forge consensus with Summit County, UDOT, and DWR on SR 224 wildlife crossings, eyes wide open.
Amy Mills
Park City