Park City's two transit agencies have the same problem this winter. Afternoon traffic in ski season slows every bus, and it happens at the same hours every day. High Valley Transit is answering it with pavement, in the form of new bus-only lanes along State Route 224. Park City Transit is answering it with a clock. Starting Dec. 6, its winter timetable moves its published departure times to match when buses actually show up.
Both answers come out of the same summer of cones, lane shifts and trail detours. The Bobsled Express build, which people now call "The Bob," hit about 50 percent complete this fall, according to the Park Record. Crews are mostly done until spring. High Valley Transit says traffic control comes down for the winter and the trails along the corridor reopen. Crews will keep working on local bus stops when the weather allows, TownLift reported.
So the corridor you drive this ski season is half finished, and how much of it you'll notice depends on which end of 224 you're on.
North of Kearns, the Bus Gets Its Own Lane
The design of The Bob rests on one idea. Between Olympic Parkway and Kearns Boulevard, about 5 miles, buses run in dedicated lanes. From Kearns into Old Town, the road has two travel lanes in each direction with a turn lane between them. High Valley Transit's chief development officer, Gabriel Shields, explained the reasoning to TownLift:
"If a car is stuck in traffic and a bus is stuck in that same traffic, why would you take the bus?"
You'll get a first look at that this winter. The Park Record reported that buses will run in some of the newly widened lanes this season, on two stretches. Southbound, they'll run from Kimball Junction nearly to Holiday Ranch or Payday. Northbound, they'll run from Canyons up to Kimball. Those are the stretches where the widening is far enough along to carry a bus. The full service, with its stations and finished infrastructure, is still set for 2028.
Drivers mostly need to know who belongs in those lanes. High Valley Transit lists them as bus-only, for its own buses, Park City Transit, school district buses and future transit providers. Private cars aren't on that list.
For now, the 10X is the familiar route on this corridor. High Valley Transit's 10X route page lists service every 20 minutes until 8 p.m. between Old Town, Canyons Village and Kimball Junction, with buses running from 5:55 a.m. to 11:52 p.m. That 20-minute gap is the starting point The Bob is built to beat.
In Town, Park City Transit Rewrites the Timetable
Park City Transit took a different approach. Its planners went through their performance data and found that scheduled run times didn't match conditions on the road. Several buses were often late at the same time "due to predictable traffic patterns," the city says on its Winter 2026-2027 Transit Service Changes page.
The new schedule starts Dec. 6 and builds that congestion into the timetable. Here's what changes:
- Departure times shift closer to when buses are statistically likely to leave, and drivers get more time on their routes during the busiest parts of the day. Winter afternoons are the example the city gives.
- Stop times are different from last winter, though average frequencies stay the same with small swings through the day. A bus you caught at a certain minute last season may come at a different minute now.
- The 20-Tan doubles its peak service. It now leaves each stop once an hour instead of every two hours, from 8 to 11 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m. The city says riders asked for more service on that route.
- Live arrival times are in the Transit app, Google Maps and Apple Maps. Printed rider guides are available at the Park City Senior Center, the Old Town Transit Center and on board the buses.
The city's goal is that "your bus shows up closer to when you expect it." It's a goal about reliability, not speed, and it fits the stretch of town without dedicated lanes.
Box of Rocks Is Where the Two Approaches Meet
South of Kearns, The Bob shares the road like any other bus. To keep it on schedule, High Valley Transit is relying on transit signal priority. A bus running late can signal the traffic lights to hold a green or cut a red short. That makes the intersections on the south end matter as much as the lanes on the north end.
The biggest of those is finished. Park Avenue and Deer Valley Drive, known locally as "Box of Rocks," was the first segment completed. It now has new turn lanes, traffic signals, street lighting and sidewalks, along with better drainage, rebuilt curbs, gutters and driveways, and new pavement. Shields told the Park Record that the dedicated lanes north of Kearns get most of the attention, "but these improvements that we made at the intersection of S.R. 224 and Deer Valley Drive also do a lot for reliability and movement."
Cars use that intersection more than buses do, so its improvements help everyone who drives it. It's the clearest case of something a driver gets from a transit project without ever getting on a bus.
What You'll Drive Past Between Kimball and Old Town
The work is split into segments, and each one is at a different stage. Here's where they stood at the winter pause, according to the Park Record, High Valley Transit's construction updates and TownLift:
| Stretch | Done in 2026 | Still to come |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic Blvd to Canyons Resort Dr | New drainage, relocated utility meters, a rebuilt retaining wall, a detention pond, signal work at Old Ranch, Silver Springs and Olympic | Road widening in the Bear Hollow area; median rebuilds near Canyons Village |
| McPolin Barn to Holiday Ranch Loop Rd | New landscaped medians, paving and striping, drainage improvements | Remaining excavation and asphalt; road widening from McPolin Barn to Kearns Blvd in 2027 |
| Kearns Blvd to White Pine Canyon Dr | Early drainage work | More intensive construction in 2027 |
| Park Ave and Deer Valley Dr | Major work finished | None reported |
The McPolin stretch is the one to watch at the entry to town. The median work near the barn wasn't supposed to happen until 2027. The contractor finished other pieces early and pulled it into this year. When crews come back for that open-space and wildlife corridor in 2027, the plan is to narrow the median rather than widen the road, so the footprint stays the same.
Some drainage work may go on this winter if the weather allows. Shields said it shouldn't affect drivers. He expects construction to be "nearly complete" by the end of 2027 and next summer to be a calmer construction season for Summit County.
The Version That Arrives in 2028
When the full line opens, it will replace the 10X with electric buses that board from near-level platforms. The stations will have shelters, seating and real-time arrival information. The trip from Old Town to Kimball Junction is projected at about 17 minutes.
Service levels are meant to change with conditions in town. Shields told TownLift the buses will run every 15 minutes on opening day. On a big-storm Saturday or at the end of the ski day, that could tighten to every 10 minutes. For a large event like the Olympics, buses could come every two to three minutes. High Valley Transit's project materials, as cited by TownLift, put the total cost at $119.2 million, including $25 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation's RAISE grant program plus state funding.
Until then, the corridor runs both systems side by side. Partial bus lanes carry buses past traffic on the north stretches, and from Dec. 6 Park City Transit's timetables plan around the afternoon slowdowns. Project details are posted at hvtutah.gov/sr224-brt.
At Mountain Lux Realty, we keep an eye on SR-224 because how long it takes to get from your front door to Kimball, Canyons or Main Street is part of what a home in Park City is worth. If you're curious how corridor changes like The Bob could affect your home's value, ask us for a valuation and we'll go through it with you.
