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Kittitas County December 2016 Comprehensive Plan <br />The Summit at Snoqualmie Master Plan currently shows 39.9 acres of parking. This <br />translates to about 4,948 parking spaces. This will not be enough parking to meet <br />demand. As discussed above, on-street parking may not be available in the future. The <br />parking spaces must also be allocated to demand. Currently, the Alpental area has the <br />biggest parking problem. When the lots fill, drivers park along Alpental Road. This <br />creates problems for plowing, cuts off emergency access and makes traffic flow very <br />difficult. <br />If the parking areas are not more efficiently managed than today, the parking areas will <br />not be able to park even the 4,948 cars. Therefore, several measures are needed to <br />mitigate parking problems. <br />1. Parking Management <br />a. Provide enough parking in lots to accommodate peak demand. We recommend that <br />room for 6,000 cars be provided to meet typically high demand. The ski area is currently <br />amending their master plan to add parking. <br />b. Provide parking at the demand location. This requires some thought by the ski area so <br />that parking at each portal matches demand. Until permanent parking can be created, <br />the ski area should investigate temporary parking locations to be utilized closer to the <br />demand locations. <br />c. Provide for off-site, overflow parking. This might take place at one of the Sno-Parks at <br />either Hyak or Exit 38. These lots tend to be lightly used. Overflow parking would <br />require additional shuttle service. <br />d. Provide better overall shuttle service. Skiers should not have to wait more than 5 - 10 <br />minutes for the shuttle. Longer waits encourage people to get in their cars and drive to <br />another portal, which creates both parking and traffic problems. <br />e. Emphasize parking management to provide excellent parking utilization. <br />a. Parking lots should only be parked one at a time. In other words, all other lots <br />are closed off until one lot fills. Then all traffic is directed to the next lot, and <br />down the line. <br />b. Provide enough parking staff to do the job right. For the large lots, the minimum <br />would be 7 - 8 staff. Having enough people on hand allows those staff to get <br />people efficiently into parking spaces, maximizes the number of cars possible in <br />a lot, and makes the experience better for skiers. <br />c. Traffic management into the parking areas is critical to success. SR-906 traffic <br />should be directed by certified flaggers. To be effective, the flaggers must be <br />aggressive in directing traffic. <br />d. During busy times, have parking and traffic management staff on hand to <br />manage egress activities. Waiting in a parking lot to exit is no fun, and creates a <br />bad visitor experience. It also breeds frustration in drivers, who may then <br />exhibit poor driving behavior on exiting the lot.