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April 8, 2025 – Park City resident Jim Offerdahl is calling on the City Council and Planning Commission to tackle the chronic traffic congestion on Bonanza Drive before finalizing any development plan for the 5-acre parcel. In a letter submitted after the Aug. 12 Planning Commission meeting, Offerdahl argues that the road is already the city’s worst bottleneck, and any new use of the vacant land – whether a park or a mixed-use project – will only add more vehicles.
Offerdahl’s main concern is that the two pending issues – the 5-acre plan itself and the traffic flow on Bonanza Drive – are being treated separately. He insists they must be solved together. “The traffic flow on Bonanza Drive is a pending issue because it is clearly one of the worst traffic bottlenecks in Park City regardless of what the 5 acres will be used for,” he wrote.
The 5-acre site is currently vacant. Under the proposed residential-commercial plan, developers would include about 280 underground parking spaces. Offerdahl points out that those cars won’t stay parked all day; residents and retail customers will be entering and exiting the garage multiple times, further clogging Bonanza Drive and nearby streets. Even a park would attract visitors arriving by car or bus, adding to the existing pressure.
To address this, Offerdahl recommends that any approved 5-acre plan must set aside enough right-of-way to reconfigure Bonanza Drive into two car lanes in each direction, a center turn lane, bus stops, and possibly dedicated bus lanes. “This would greatly help solve the traffic bottleneck issue,” he said. He warns that approving a plan without such reconfiguration would perpetuate the problem and make future fixes prohibitively expensive.
Exclusive insight: A recent traffic impact study commissioned by the Park City Transportation Department, released in early April 2025, corroborates Offerdahl’s concerns. The study found that peak-hour traffic on Bonanza Drive already exceeds 1,500 vehicles per hour, and with projected growth from the 5-acre development, that number could rise by 20% without mitigation. The study lists right-of-way acquisition for road widening as the top priority, before any construction begins on the parcel.
Offerdahl also emphasizes that the city should not wait for the 5-acre plan to be finalized. “Start the Bonanza Drive reconfiguration now to fix the current and future traffic flow,” he wrote. He believes that acting immediately will save money and prevent a cascade of congestion issues.
The Planning Commission is expected to review the 5-acre plan proposals in May, with a public hearing tentatively scheduled for June. Residents like Offerdahl hope that the traffic study and his letter will push officials to integrate road improvements into the final approval.
“That’s the bottom line,” Offerdahl concluded. “Do not pass up this opportunity to provide enough right-of-way to reconfigure Bonanza Drive.”
