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Park City business owners are hoping to cash in once again. Because of the closing of I-80, prices are cut in half at the Park City Peaks Hotel.
Sales Manager Maxine Jensen says, "I'm looking at availability, and we seem to be almost sold out tonight."
So do people feel like they are being held hostage here? "Well, I wouldn't say held hostage, but you could put it that way," Jensen says.
It will be another unusual weekend, thanks to the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT). This weekend, crews will be sliding pre-made bridges into place at East Canyon and Lambs Canyon for eastbound traffic. The road is scheduled to be closed from 7 p.m. on Saturday until 7 p.m. on Sunday. Last week, freeway shut down at 4 pm to do the same thing on the westbound side.
The closure is worrisome for hundreds of people trying to get up to a Gladys Knight concert at Deer Valley. The concert begins tomorrow evening at 7:30, so as long as you're through the canyon by 6:30, you should be fine.
UDOT compromised with the Utah Symphony Utah Opera to do the closure later, that way concert-goers could get up. "They were nice enough to concede to move from 4:00 to 7:00 so our patrons could get up the hill. And it was just something we knew going out the gate that we had to work together," Kevin Bentz, with the Utah Symphony Utah Opera, said.
Utah Symphony Utah Opera says they're losing money because people are calling for refunds or deciding to stay home.
If you still need to get up the canyon during this time, commuters can take either I-15 North to I-84 or I-15 South through Provo Canyon. UDOT says Eastbound I-80 will be opened at 7 p.m. on Sunday, possibly sooner. Last weekend, crews finished an hour and a half ahead of schedule. They expect the bridge move to go smoothly, unless the winds kick up. They will have to stop if gusts exceed 25 miles per hour.
Utah Symphony Utah Opera still has tickets available for Gladys Knight tomorrow because of this shut down.
E-mail: tcallan@ksl.com
E-mail: ngonzales @ksl.com
