Provo MSA Development Thread

[Deek1978]

something tells me the pedestrian bridge isn't going to be completed this fall. Perhaps it's the fact that they broke ground on it, and have done virtually NOTHING on it since then.

I could be wrong, but it'd take a colossal effort to get that thing finished this year.

[DanskeUtahn]

Originally Posted by Deek1978

something tells me the pedestrian bridge isn't going to be completed this fall. Perhaps it's the fact that they broke ground on it, and have done virtually NOTHING on it since then.

I could be wrong, but it'd take a colossal effort to get that thing finished this year.

No it won't be done by fall I just put that photo there for reference of where the project is taking place.

"In the 11 months since that day — and months before its originally announced August 2019 opening date — construction has yet to begin.

Design work on the bridge is almost complete, but the bridge awaits approval from Union Pacific Railroad before construction can begin because it will span over the railroad track, according to Val Peterson, the vice president of finance and administration at UVU."


https://www.heraldextra.com/news/loc...2d5d44a66.html

[Wasatch Wasteland]

Not sure if the journalist on the herald journal story just didn’t do their research, but the bridge went through a major re-design to save money following cost overruns. It went from the cool unique whatever type of construction the design was, to now a pretty typical pedestrian bridge with big steel I-beam spans. It’s the new design from a few months ago that is being approved by Union Pacific, not the year and a half old design. These things take long but not that long.

Here’s the trib article: https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics...a-long-costly/

[delts145]

I actually think I like the new design more. The old design kind of reminds me a of some of Frank Gehry's work. While I like much of what Gehry has done, sometimes it gets a little over the top and messy looking. Unique, but still a bit of a hot mess.

https://www.sltrib.com/resizer/15xfu...WYDXBQYNCA.jpg

[Stenar]

Originally Posted by delts145

I actually think I like the new design more. The old design kind of reminds me a of some of Frank Gehry's work. While I like much of what Gehry has done, sometimes it gets a little over the top and messy looking. Unique, but still a bit of a hot mess.

I also prefer the new design. The original was just too weird...and I tend to like weird things.

[Hatman]

[delts145]

Utah, #1 in Housing Growth, with Vineyard as fastest growing community in the Nation.

By Annie Knox, Deseret News - https://www.deseretnews.com/article/...me-growth.html

The data shows the Beehive State continues to build homes faster than any other state, at a rate of about 2.2 percent for 2017-2018.
"This growth is pretty unrelenting" in Utah, said Pamela Perlich, director of demographic research at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.

VINEYARD — Not long after making a down payment on a home with expansive views of Utah Lake and only a few neighbors, Julie Fullmer returned from a trip abroad and could not find her way to her house.

"I was driving around and had no idea where I was going," Fullmer recalled Wednesday. Dozens of homes had popped up around hers in the six months she spent in Asia. "I couldn't see the lake at all. It was instantly built out."

Eight years after she finally found her driveway, Vineyard continues to grow so quickly that it is almost unrecognizable from just half a year earlier. It is the fastest-growing community of more than 1,000 in the nation, new census figures suggest, and Fullmer, now its mayor, is working to make sure it can handle the rush of newcomers...

New apartments and houses in Vineyard, Utah County, one of the fastest growing areas in Utah, are pictured on Wednesday, May 22, 2019. Photo By Steve Griffin, Deseret News

...The new Utah homes have cropped up mostly in clusters in Salt Lake and Utah counties, and also in southern Utah's Washington County, home to a growing number of outdoor enthusiasts, retirees and service workers, Perlich said. But they have not averted an affordable housing crunch. The state's housing market has been among the hottest in the west for the past several years, driving up prices for homebuyers and renters, particularly along the Wasatch Front, according to James Wood, a senior fellow at the Gardner Institute who studies real estate trends. Last year, he notes, was exceptional. Home sales were brisk, while apartments and condos were being built at an all-time high — in no small part due to steady job growth in Utah.

“The employment growth brings people in and those people need housing units,” he said. “Consequently, we get demand for housing." Read More... https://www.deseretnews.com/article/...me-growth.html

Photo By Steve Griffin - Deseret News

.

[DanskeUtahn]

Originally Posted by delts145

I actually think I like the new design more. The old design kind of reminds me a of some of Frank Gehry's work. While I like much of what Gehry has done, sometimes it gets a little over the top and messy looking. Unique, but still a bit of a hot mess.

https://www.sltrib.com/resizer/15xfu...WYDXBQYNCA.jpg

Oh yeah I definitely prefer the new design! These bridges being built at both Provo and Orem stations are massive upgrades that need to be prioritized!

[delts145]

It is amazing how fast Utah Valley University has grown, and how huge it's getting. Even with a fully developed Vineyard Campus and additional satellite campuses, I imagine at some point they're going to have to cap its growth. I would like to see a new full blown State University founded somewhere in the Lehi/Saratoga Springs/Eagle Mountain area. Cedar Valley would be a good place to get a foothold on land while it's still affordable. I know this makes some peoples hair light up on fire, but it is inevitable that Cedar Valley and Tooele are going to become to the Wasatch Front what the San Fernando Valley is to the Los Angeles basin. Again, it's inevitable, no matter how dense and well planned the Wasatch Front becomes.

Lateral metros like Heber Valley and Summit and Morgan Counties can only handle so many people, and they are primarily going to be gobbled up by upper income groups. Where else can we put a future Wasatch CSA of 5 million-plus residents, but areas such as Goshen, Cedar, and Tooele Valleys?

[StevenF]

Originally Posted by delts145

It is amazing how fast Utah Valley University has grown, and how huge it's getting. Even with a fully developed Vineyard Campus and additional satellite campuses, I imagine at some point they're going to have to cap its growth. I would like to see a new full blown State University founded somewhere in the Lehi/Saratoga Springs/Eagle Mountain area. Cedar Valley would be a good place to get a foothold on land while it's still affordable. I know this makes some peoples hair light up on fire, but it is inevitable that Cedar Valley and Tooele are going to become to the Wasatch Front what the San Fernando Valley is to the Los Angeles basin. Again, it's inevitable, no matter how dense and well planned the Wasatch Front becomes.

Lateral metros like Heber Valley and Summit and Morgan Counties can only handle so many people, and they are primarily going to be gobbled up by upper income groups. Where else can we put a future Wasatch CSA of 5 million-plus residents, but areas such as Goshen, Cedar, and Tooele Valleys?

I think we will need to tunnel under the Oquirrh Mountains with a freeway before Tooele will become a viable growth option. There is only so much I-80 and the 201 can handle for those that live over there.

[wrendog]

Originally Posted by delts145

Where else can we put a future Wasatch CSA of 5 million-plus residents, but areas such as Goshen, Cedar, and Tooele Valleys?

[delts145]

Wrendog, Please explain your posting of the picture of Manhattan. Could mean a lot of different things. If your trying to compare apples to future apples then use Los Angeles. I've lived in both. Current (repentant) Los Angeles development is a far better comparison of future Salt Lake than Manhattan.

And Steve, the day could easily be in the not too distant future when a bridge over the southern portion of Utah Lake and a transit tunnel under the Oquirrh's is not that big of a stretch. There are many who commute in to Salt Lake County now from Tooele and or the Stansbury Park area. A north/south freeway connecting to I-80 is not that far off. Whose to say they'll even have to build a tunnel. Many people living in the San Fernando Valley don't commute in to Central Los Angeles every day. Most live and work right in the Valley itself. Even most of the residents who work in the entertainment industry commute to their office parks/studios in the Valley, not Hollywood. Tooele is just as capable of building up it's own valley infrastructure over the next fifty years as Utah Valley has. Fifty years from now Tooele Valley will look much more like Utah Valley today. Utah Valley will be much denser with multiple downtown type cores. Salt Lake Valley will most likely be even denser and taller than Utah Valley.

[wrendog]

Originally Posted by delts145

Wrendog, Please explain your posting of the picture of Manhattan. Could mean a lot of different things. If your trying to compare apples to future apples then use Los Angeles. I've lived in both. Current (repentant) Los Angeles development is a far better comparison of future Salt Lake than Manhattan..

Ha.. My point wasn't complex. I was just saying that there are other options than expanding to the western/oquirrh valleys and that picture was just a representation of building up instead of out.

[delts145]

I was hoping that's what you meant. Again, Central Los Angeles (Basin) is the model that the Wasatch Front is following. That means a much denser metro from north to south, and ancillary metros to the sides. I don't think any of us would like to see eight million people between Ogden and Provo, or Salt Lake Valley looking like Manhattan Island. Maybe some would???

[I-15]

I worked on Tooele County's transportation plan and everything we heard is that the Tooele valley has very poor water resources, water will always be a limiting factor to growth, and you will likely never see it develop like the rest of the Wasatch Front.

They did look at extending 201 west around the lake point to run parallel to I-80 into Tooele Valley as another possible transportation option to get into the valley, as well as some kind of improved road From Tooele up Middle Canyon to connect to Butterfield Canyon and Herriman, but I highly doubt the second option will ever happen.

I agree that Cedar Valley and especially southern Utah valley (west of SF, Payson) is where you'll really see the most growth over the next 20-30 years.

[bob rulz]

Originally Posted by delts145

It is amazing how fast Utah Valley University has grown, and how huge it's getting. Even with a fully developed Vineyard Campus and additional satellite campuses, I imagine at some point they're going to have to cap its growth. I would like to see a new full blown State University founded somewhere in the Lehi/Saratoga Springs/Eagle Mountain area. Cedar Valley would be a good place to get a foothold on land while it's still affordable. I know this makes some peoples hair light up on fire, but it is inevitable that Cedar Valley and Tooele are going to become to the Wasatch Front what the San Fernando Valley is to the Los Angeles basin. Again, it's inevitable, no matter how dense and well planned the Wasatch Front becomes.

Lateral metros like Heber Valley and Summit and Morgan Counties can only handle so many people, and they are primarily going to be gobbled up by upper income groups. Where else can we put a future Wasatch CSA of 5 million-plus residents, but areas such as Goshen, Cedar, and Tooele Valleys?

I've never understood why Salt Lake Community College is the only community college system in the state. Places such as Davis, Weber, and Utah Counties would really benefit from that kind of option. As it is now, students who want that level of cheap classes either have to take online classes, move to Salt Lake, or endure very long commutes.

Why not take the bones of Salt Lake Community College and just make it a general Utah Community College? Imagine SLCC with branches in Layton, Ogden, Lehi, Provo, even Logan or St. George.

I agree there will likely need to be another state university at some point in the relatively near future.

[Stenar]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

I've never understood why Salt Lake Community College is the only community college system in the state. Places such as Davis, Weber, and Utah Counties would really benefit from that kind of option. As it is now, students who want that level of cheap classes either have to take online classes, move to Salt Lake, or endure very long commutes.

Why not take the bones of Salt Lake Community College and just make it a general Utah Community College? Imagine SLCC with branches in Layton, Ogden, Lehi, Provo, even Logan or St. George.

I agree there will likely need to be another state university at some point in the relatively near future.

There used to be a larger system called Utah Technical College, with campuses in several counties. UVU was originally the Provo campus of UTC and SLCC grew out of the Salt Lake area campuses of UTC. I don't know what happened to the rest. But they should expand or create a new system of community colleges.

[StevenF]

When living in Cache Valley I always imagined Bridgerland Technical College changing to a community college.

[Denvergotback]

As I too also prefer the new design of the bridge, I kinda liked the weirdness of the first design. There is lots of bridges in this country that looks like the second design, I cannot think of one example of one like the first

[i-215]

Speaking of the changes to the UVU pedestrian bridge, I wonder if the collapse of the FIU pedestrian bridge (2018) influenced changes to the design.

The FIU one was weird for the sake of weird, with post-tensioned concrete spans suspended by cables. The new UVU design is a traditional steel beam design.