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UDOT traffic counters show shifts after parking program; Central Wasatch visitor-use study updated
Summary
UDOT presented two years of vehicle-count and travel-time data that indicate morning traffic spread and a net average reduction of roughly 280 vehicles per day at one site; the Central Wasatch Commission updated a 2021-22 visitor-use study correcting ski-resort visitation numbers and publishing data on an environmental dashboard.
Representatives from UDOT and the Central Wasatch Commission briefed the Brighton Town Council Aug. 13 on traffic counters and visitation data for the canyon areas.
UDOT traffic engineer Ivana presented two years of automated vehicle-count and travel-time-index data (one year before and one year after the town’s parking program), with the caveat that snowfall differences and limited historical counters make firm conclusions tentative. Ivana said eastbound morning travel-time index improved and that daily averages at the monitored sites showed roughly 280 fewer vehicles on average at one location across a five-month comparison window, but she emphasized more years of data are needed to assess long-term effects and to control for weather variations.
Lindsay Nielsen of the Central Wasatch Commission reported an updated visitor-use study covering Oct. 2021 through Sept. 30, 2022, which corrected previous ski-resort visitation figures. The updated study shows Big Cottonwood Canyon received approximately 1.45 million recreational visits in the period, Little Cottonwood about 1.31 million and Mill Creek about 434,000. The Central Wasatch Commission has incorporated trails and traffic counts into an environmental dashboard and recommended subscribing to its newsletter for updates.
Councilmembers asked whether the counters record buses and whether monthly or seasonal volumes could be reported; staff said more disaggregated data exist and will be shared.
UDOT and CWC encouraged continued monitoring and use of the environmental dashboard to track trends and inform parking and traffic management decisions.
