Walk the Walk
Art: Robert Kopecky
You won’t find the words “walkable” or “bikeable” in a dictionary, but the concept, part of a larger healthy planet and sustainable living movement, is sweeping the nation and could soon transform Park City into what some hope will be a model Walkable/Bikeable Community. Although Park City has an incredible backcountry trail system with over 350 miles of non-motorized trails for recreational hiking and biking, getting around town itself on foot or bike isn’t as easy or as safe as it could be.
Thanks to a local grassroots effort, that situation is about to change. Two and a half years ago, a few residents in Park Meadows banded together and decided to make their neighborhood safer for walkers and bicyclists, particularly children walking to and from school. Most of the group’s work has been behind the scenes, but last spring the “Coalition for Safe Streets,” which has grown to include advocates of pedestrian and bicycle safety from several other neighborhoods, along with members of Mountain Trails Foundation and Share the Road Alliance of Summit and Wasatch Counties, walked and rode bikes to City Hall as a unified and visible group, asking the city to fund a Walkable/Bikeable Community Study.
That study was completed earlier this year, and now the tireless advocates of pedestrian and bicycle safety are hopeful that they may soon see the fruits of their labor. “There are some great walkable and bikeable trails in Park City, including Poison Creek Trail, the McLeod Creek Trail and, of course, the Rail Trail,” acknowledges Carolyn Frankenburg, founder of Coalition for Safe Streets. “But we still need to do a lot to make our town more attractive to pedestrians and bicyclists. We need to connect these great arteries to each other and to schools and other high-use areas. We need to use traffic calming techniques, such as narrowing our neighborhood streets; use signage and lights; and use property easements to build off-road pathways to connect the neighborhoods, shopping and recreation areas to each other so people can get around Park City on foot or on bikes safely.”
While the neighborhood groups are primarily focused on safety issues that affect their children’s routes to and from school, Carol Potter, Executive Director of Mountain Trails Foundation, points out another reason why Park City would do well to become more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly. “Getting people to walk or ride a bike instead of driving a car is about reducing our carbon footprint on the earth.” Potter, who is herself a confessed “walk-aholic” says, “Sustainable transportation, including walking and biking, is part of the green movement that has been sweeping the entire country. Alternative transportation is also good for the health of our citizens. The Summit County Health Department is a big supporter of alternative transportation for this reason.”
According to Potter, road enhancements and new trails typically move at “glacial” speeds, and those familiar with the process joke about making the new trails wheelchair-accessible because that’s how old they will be when the projects are completed. But with City Council members who are proud of Park City’s current trail system and who seem ready to jump on the green bandwagon, perhaps Parkites won’t have to wait out the glaciers.
For detailed information on other popular hiking and bicycling trails in Park City, please pick up a Mountain Trails Foundation map at the Park City Chamber/Bureau or contact Mountain Trails Foundation at 435.649.6839.
Wendy Mair is a local freelance writer and photographer. She founded ‘Kids in Crosswalks Child Pedestrian Safety Campaign’ after her 13-year-old son Kyle was hit by a car in a crosswalk and suffered serious injuries. Wendy can be reached at wendymair @earthlink.net.
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