Ferguson Trail is one of the most well-known trails within the Cottonwood Heights boundaries (with over 440 review on Google and 2,320 on All Trails). Located along 7721 Timberline Drive, the trail extends for approximately 3.5 miles into the canyon. Unfortunately for the residents living near the trailhead, the continuously-increasing notoriety also brings continuously-increasing traffic. With only 15 parking stalls located directly at the trailhead, the dead end neighborhood streets struggle to accommodate the car circulation. 

“Vehicles typically check upper stalls first which leads to constant traffic, turnarounds in driveways and general congestion,” said Community and Economic Development Director Mike Johnson. (Photo courtesy of Cottonwood Heights)

“The issue residents report is high traffic with cars turning around in driveways,” said Community and Economic Development Director Mike Johnson.

“I counted cars three different times when three homes were vacant out of the 11 north of me,” said resident Marilee Christensen. “On May 18, from 8 a.m. until noon, there were 75 cars. On May 19, from 11:10 a.m. until 11:30 a.m., there were 16 cars looking for open parking stalls. On May 27, from 11:55 a.m. until 12:55 p.m., there were 30 cars that came up our street.” 

Ferguson Park’s (7722 S. Prospector Drive) ribbon cutting occurred during the summer of 2023. One year later, the parking lot is being underutilized. (Cassie Goff/City Journals)

In years prior, Cottonwood Heights has attempted to minimize car traffic within the dead end neighborhood streets surrounding the trailhead, in a few different ways. The city’s Bonneville Shoreline Trail (BST) Master Plan was adopted in 2020. The plan recommends accommodating parking for regional amenities. Once a regional parking lot opened, the plan recommends removing the parking stalls directly located at the trailhead along Timberline Drive.  

“The residents have understood since 2020 that the stalls were going to be removed,” said Mayor Mike Weichers. 

In 2022, a permit-parking program was altered  (from its origins in 2020) where only cars with permitted-use could park along the street. Currently, the permit parking program is still in effect so on-street parking is restricted to resident-only parking with 0.3 miles of the trailhead in all directions. Cars that were not permitted through the city could be ticketed and towed.

In 2023, Ferguson Park was opened along 7722 S. Prospector Drive to allow for overflow parking to Ferguson Trail. (Four years after ground was broken.) Ferguson Park was designated as a regional park with its additional amenities, parking and an off-leash dog area. That regional designation has brought the regional traffic to the city’s residential neighborhoods. 

“The parking lot was intended (for people visiting the park itself but also) as a trailhead parking lot for both Ferguson Trail and any future Bonneville Shoreline Trail,” Johnson said. 

Visitors to the Ferguson Trail are encouraged to park within Ferguson Park, walk through the park area, up through the designated pathways through the neighborhoods, and to the trailhead. Even with the overflow parking, many trail users will still try to fight for the open parking stalls at the trailhead.

“All trail users should use the below and larger parking lot,” Johnson said.

When Councilmember Suzanne Hyland saw the recommend pathway that trail users are encouraged to walk from Ferguson Park up to the Ferguson Trailhead, she said, “there’s a big incentive for people to go up there and look for parking before turning around to go look for parking in the park.” 

“Residents do want the stalls removed to help with the traffic in the neighborhood,” Johnson said. “We have received over a dozen letters of support for removal of those stalls.”

The current status of parking near Ferguson Trailhead includes various types of illegal parking within the dead end single-family neighborhood. (Photo courtesy of Cottonwood Heights)

City staff and volunteers have been brainstorming additional ways to address the intensified traffic. Drawing back to the 2020 BST Master Plan, the city has been moving forward to eliminate all but the ADA parking stalls at the trailhead. 

“You could put jersey barriers there to block it and that’s a very low-cost option we could do right now,” Johnson said.

However, with Ferguson Park being a regional amenity and the Ferguson Trail itself being owned by Salt Lake County, the County has shared some concerns with the city’s original intent to remove the parking stalls. They would like to see a formal written request before any removal takes place.  

In addition, removing the asphalt would prove quite costly on the city’s budget. Instead, modifying or repurposing the asphalt has been a favorable alternative brainstormed in many different conversations. The Cottonwood Heights Parks, Trails and Open Space (PTOS) Committee imagines the asphalt of the existing stalls be used as a drop-off for visitors (children, seniors, and passengers) and equipment (rock climbing and hiking). 

“I think we need to think about servicing all of the users of this trailhead,” said Councilmember Ellen Birrell. “The public has a right to access this…I think we have done so much for the residents of this area to alleviate the parking now.” 

If the parking stalls are not removed, the PTOS Committee would like to explore adding some light amenities at the trailhead, like bicycle parking. In addition, both city staff and the PTOS Committee members would like to see additional wayfinding signs throughout the neighborhoods.

“There are no trash cans unless it’s all the way on the other end of the trail. People put dog poop in our trash cans,” said resident Cessily Johnson. “I pick up lots and lots of trash, like cases of beer. I would really like the garbage cans back if the parking stays.”

The PTOS Committee made their recommendation to the council to leave the ADA parking stalls and work with Salt Lake County to plan for modifying the other existing parking stalls.

After this conversation on Aug. 6, the council was in majority agreement that the existing parking stalls need to be removed but they would like more detail for what repurposing the asphalt could look like. They’ve asked city staff to look into an inexpensive option for a turn-around and/or drop-off at the trailhead instead.