JACKSON, Wyo. — The multifaceted Teton Pass Corridor Study Draft Plan has been released, outlining a number of potential interventions and projects from paid parking at trailheads to installing avalanche sheds along high-risk areas of the corridor.
A study of the 24-mile corridor from the Stilson Transit Center to the Victor Transit Center was conducted over the past year by the Federal Highway Administration, Central Federal Lands Highway Division. It was distributed to the Wyoming Department of Transportation, U.S. Forest Service and Teton County.
According to the draft, the plan aims to “provide decision makers with a range of capital and operational improvements for consideration to alleviate the safety, access, congestion and parking concerns along this crucial transportation route.”
The draft plan outlines a variety of possible operational interventions including a parking fee program scenario, a transit service scenario and a third scenario that combines the two options.
Capital improvement considerations such as improvements to Phillips Bench trailhead, the summit of Teton Pass and Coal Creek, as well as wildlife crossings and avalanche sheds, will be covered in a future article.
According to the draft plan, backcountry user data through the Strava platform was used to understand user patterns near Teton Pass. Strava is a social fitness tracker that analyzes users’ activities and tracks their routes. “While this data does not provide total daily use numbers, it does provide an indication of the relative activity levels among Strava users (which are probably a reasonably valid sample of all recreationists),” states the draft plan.
In the slideshow above, heatmap data was used. Areas of light device tracking are shown in blue, while heavy-use areas are shown in red.
According to the draft plan, the data was used to inform decisions about where to suggest possible transit stops and better understand users in the area, under the assumption that a majority of people track their activity via Strava.
Parking fees only scenario
According to the draft, this scenario would only implement a parking fee program. The program would be applied to all public parking areas along the highway from Trail Creek Trailhead to the Mike Harris parking area. The draft includes scenarios for winter-only fees, December 15 through March, or both winter and summer, June 1 through Labor Day.
The suggested fee is $10 per vehicle or an annual pass for $60 per year. The estimated revenue for winter is $315,900 and $211,500 in the summer, totaling $527,400. Enforcement and associated costs are estimated at $125,200 annually, for a net operating revenue of $402,200.
“These net operating revenues could potentially be invested in capital improvements along the corridor, including parking and trails enhancements,” states the draft plan.
The draft outlines several phasing options including rolling out winter fees first, and a weekends-only fee program before increasing fees to seven days a week.
Transit only scenario
According to the draft, this scenario explores a transit shuttle program without parking fees. For the winter, this scenario found two service area options, either focusing on the east side only with stops from Stilson to Coal Creek or a full corridor option, adding west-side stops at Hungry Creek, State line, Mike Harris and Victor Depot.
For the east-side-only scenario, two buses would cycle between Stilson and Coal Creek, making nine round trips per day from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. For the full corridor scenario, four buses would cycle and a fifth bus would be added on weekends and holidays.
In the summer, an east-side-only service would be provided by a single bus operating on an hourly service from 8 a.m.-7 p.m.
According to the draft, “a reasonable fare strategy” is $5/day, with passes checked by the driver only in the uphill direction.
“If there is a desire to provide a benefit for ‘locals’ that frequently use the service, a season pass could also be available (such as for $30),” states the draft plan.
The phasing suggestion for this scenario is to implement a summer service first followed by a winter east-side-only service before expanding to the entire corridor.
Multimodal access focus: parking management program with recreational shuttle service
“This approach is intended to address the negative impacts of auto access without reducing (or even potentially expanding) the public’s access to recreational amenities,” states the draft.
In this scenario, a shuttle service would be implemented at the same stops outlined in the transit only scenario, with the same number of buses and operating times.
A variety of operating schedules are explored in the draft including weekend only, holiday ridership estimates, seven-days-a-week scenario and winter and summer cost estimates.
According to the draft, if fares were set to fully cover the operating cost, the round trip fare cost for a two-person travel party for winter would be about $23. The fee was found to be too high and a deterrent to ridership, and “financially supporting a transit program wholly on fares is not viable.” Fare suggestions for this scenario align with the parking fee program-only scenario.
Pass corridor, particularly if operated 7 days a week and particularly if focused on the East Side only.”
In this scenario, a corridor parking fee would be applied to all public parking areas and follow the same fee schedule outlined in the parking fee program-only scenario. A seasonal pass program is added to this scenario and combines a parking and transit use pass suggested to be $80 per year for “recreationists who drive to trailheads on off-peak days but choose to use the shuttle on peak days when parking may not be available at the trailheads”
The draft suggests the phasing for the paid parking and transit program should be rolled out with winter only initially and then expand to the summer. The program could also be implemented on the east side first and on weekends and holidays only before expanding to seven days a week.
The complete 47-page draft plan is available for review. Public feedback is being accepted through an online survey. Multiple submissions will be accepted and the survey can be done anonymously. The project website is located here.
