- Demand exceeds “supply” and will continue to grow
- Teton County’s Comprehensive Plan, LDRs and the airport’s capacity, combined with the valley’s geographic features, essentially cap the number of people who can live (full or part time), or visit Jackson
- Therefore the valley’s economic plan should shift from growing the numbers of visitors to growing revenue and taxes collected per visitor
How can we maximize capacity on our roads?
- Relieve current bottlenecks
- WY 390 / WY 22
- Spring Gulch Road / WY 22
- Institute managed parking valley-wide
- Improve alternative transportation options
- Designate Stilson as key commuter parking center
- Ask State to permit valley-wide electronic speed limit enforcement
The ITP Ignores Reality
During peak summer months and on exceptional powder days in the winter of 2014, traffic congestion at the Y (the junction of US 89 and WY 22) was deemed excessive, leading WYDOT to rate the service level provided a “D.” In 2015, County and Town Elected Officials adopted the Integrated Transportation Plan (“ITP”). It was updated in 2020, with the help of Charlier Associates, an outside traffic consultant.
The ITP prioritizes the construction of new roads and the widening of existing roads to achieve its goals. This is unfortunate, because road expansion is a high-cost approach to dealing with congestion that consistently fails to achieve the desired results. In fact, the outcome is the opposite: no improvement in congestion (travel times), increased overall traffic volume (vehicle miles traveled and/or trips taken) and more air and noise pollution.
As a result, the ITP is at odds with the Comprehensive Plan’s mission to “preserve and protect our ecosystem,” and should be further revised, if not rewritten.