Updates

Updates

FrontRunner 2X | North of Provo Segment Neighborhood Meeting

UDOT and UTA will host an in-person neighborhood meeting for property owners and resi-dents of the Mountain View Condominiums and Meadow Park Apartments on Thursday, Sept. 18 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Franklin Elementary School, 350 S 600 W, Provo, UT 84601. Presentations will start at 6:15 p.m. Please contact us 48 hours in advance of the meeting if you require accommodations by calling 888-882-0373 or emailing frontrun-ner2x@utah.gov.

---

July 13 – July 27, 2025 : Notice of Public Comment Period

FrontRunner South of Draper Double Track Project
Section 4(f) de Minimis Impacts to Phillip Gates Memorial Park

Use the form below to submit your comment about the FrontRunner South of Draper Double Track Project's Section 4(f) de minimis impacts to Phillip Gates Memorial Park. Comments provided to the project team by July 27, 2025, will be reviewed and considered by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), UTA and UDOT and documented in the project record. The project team will contact you if any additional information is needed. More information about these impacts to Phillip Gates Memorial Park is provided below the form.

Section 4(f) de minimis Overview

The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) and the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) are proposing to add double track and a new station south of the existing Draper Station of the FrontRunner commuter rail system in the cities of Draper and Bluffdale in Salt Lake County, Utah. As the lead agency for this project, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), in compliance with Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act of 1966, 23 United States Code (USC) Section 138, and 49 USC Section 303, is providing public notification of its intent to make a de minimis impact finding regarding impacts to Phillip Gates Memorial Park, a Section 4(f) resource in the project area.

About the Section 4(f) Resource

Phillip Gates Memorial Park, located at 14359 S. Royal Coachman Drive in Bluffdale, is a 4.54-acre public park owned by Bluffdale City and managed by the Bluffdale Parks and Recreation Department. The entire eastern edge of the park is adjacent to the existing FrontRunner rail corridor. The park, which includes a parking lot, is well equipped for active, outdoor recreation activities. The park's amenities include open green spaces and trees, a large playground, benches, a pavilion, picnic tables, restrooms, drinking fountains and electrical outlets. The park also has paved multi-use trails for walking, running and cycling. Dogs are allowed in the park on leashes.

Spring View Farms Trail, a multi-use pathway and distinct Section 4(f) property within the park, runs along the western perimeter of the park. An emergency and maintenance access road runs along the east side of the park between the park's grass area and the FrontRunner corridor. According to Bluffdale City staff, this access road was originally created as an emergency access for the residential development to the south and west of the park. Currently, city staff use this access to maintain the park amenities as well as the pond and other stormwater detention facilities.

Both Phillip Gates Memorial Park and Spring View Farms Trail on the west side of the park meet the qualifications for a Section 4(f) resource as defined in 23 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 774. Both the park and the trail are publicly owned and are open to the public as recreation areas. A primary purpose of the park and its associated trail system is recreation and park activities, and the park and trail are considered locally significant.

A small portion of Spring View Farms Trail on the north end of the park, where the trail connects with Royal Coachman Drive, will be included in a temporary construction easement for construction equipment access and staging. This portion of the trail will remain open throughout construction and will be restored to its original condition after construction. The temporary construction easement along this portion of the trail will have no use under Section 4(f) and will be considered a Temporary Occupancy per 23 CFR Section 774.14(d).

Section 4(f) Use of Phillip Gates Memorial Park

The new UTA track will be constructed entirely within the existing UTA right-of-way, and existing vegetation within the UTA right-of-way will be removed. To reduce the project footprint and minimize impacts to Phillip Gates Memorial Park, an approximately 825-foot-long retaining wall will be constructed along the entire length of the park except for an approximately 150-foot gap at the south end of the park property between the location where a wall for 14600 South ends and the location where the new retaining wall for the project extent will start.

The wall will be built along the eastern edge of the park mostly within the UTA right-of-way and along a sliver of the park's parking lot. Because the topography varies, the height of the retaining wall will range from 12 feet high adjacent to the park's parking lot on the north end to about 4 to 7 feet high at the south end of the park. A 6-foot-high chain-link fence will be added on top of the proposed retaining wall for safety, and another chain-link fence will be installed along the entire eastern edge of the park and UTA right-of-way boundaries to ensure full separation between the park and UTA right-of-way.

Constructing the retaining wall will require a permanent acquisition of approximately 0.11 acre of park property on the north end of the park. The 0.11-acre of park property will be permanently incorporated into the UTA right-of-way; it includes a small sliver of paved parking lot in addition to the lawn space north of the parking lot immediately adjacent to the existing FrontRunner track slope. The parking lot will be reconfigured to accommodate the proposed wall; however, the number of parking spaces will not be reduced. Some of the trees in the park will be removed to construct the retaining wall and to reconstruct the access road and parking lot. The exact number of trees that will be removed will not be known until final design and construction; however, the project team is committed to minimizing impacts to the extent possible. Any trees removed within the park will be replaced by the project contractor in coordination with Bluffdale City after construction is complete.

Construction access and equipment staging will require an approximate 0.82 acre temporary construction easement along the eastern section of the park from the western edge of the FrontRunner right-of-way through about three-quarters of the width of the access road as well as all of the parking lot and the portion of Royal Coachman Drive that is within the park. Portions of this temporary construction easement will be used at different times during construction, and, when they are not being used, they will remain open to the public.

None of the park's amenities—including the playground, picnic pavilion, parking lot, restrooms or trails—will be permanently affected by the Project. The pond/stormwater detention basin, located south of the playground, will also not be affected by the Project. Neither permanently converting the park's land to transportation use nor the temporary construction easement within a section of the park will have a notable impact on the activities, features or attributes of either the park or the trail. FTA has determined that the use of Phillip Gates Memorial Park by the South of Draper Double Track Project will be a use with de minimis impact, and the requirements of 23 CFR Part 774 have been satisfied.

Public Comments

The public comment period starts July 13 and ends July 27, 2025. Any person or group wishing to submit comments regarding the Project's effect on the Phillip Gates Memorial Park, or FTA's intent to make a finding of use with de minimis impact under Section 4(f), may do so in writing. Submit comments by email to FrontRunner2X@utah.gov; by web at FrontRunner2X.utah.gov; or by postal mail postmarked by July 27 to FrontRunner 2X c/o HDR, 2825 E. Cottonwood Parkway, Suite 200, Salt Lake City, UT 84121.

Comments provided during the comment period will be reviewed and considered by FTA, UTA, and UDOT as the Project develops. Comments received during the comment period will be documented in the project record. To review impact information, visit FrontRunner2X.utah.gov.

Para información en español, llame al 888-882-0373.

As the lead agency for the Project, FTA, in compliance with Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act of 1966, 23 United States Code (USC) Section 138, and 49 USC Section 303, is providing public notification of its intent to make a finding of use with de minimis impact to Phillip Gates Memorial Park, a Section 4(f) resource.

---

July 3, 2025: Woods Cross Neighborhood Meeting Open House

The project hosted an open house meeting on June 24, 2025 with the Woods Cross neighborhood between the Woods Cross FrontRunner station and 1500 S. This meeting provided information on potential right-of-way property impacts and temporary construction easement impacts.

• Click here to view the information shared at the meeting.
• Click here to view FAQs about the Woods Cross section of the project.

---

May 16, 2025: Spring View Farms Neighborhood Meeting Open House

The project hosted a meeting on May 15, 2025 with the Spring View Farms neighborhood, which is adjacent to the station location to share information about the station. Click here to view the information shared at the meeting.

The station is currently in the preliminary design phase. UTA and UDOT are conducting an environmental review that is anticipated to be completed in summer 2025. The following is a draft rendering of the station.

Click here to view the draft station plans shared at the meeting.

---

January 3, 2025: Geotechnical and Geophysical Explorations of Areas Near the Rail

The FrontRunner 2X project has completed the categorical exclusion environmental documents for eight of the 11 sections and is in the design phase for the eight sections. The environmental documents for the three remaining sections will be completed in later 2025.

As part of the design phase for the eight sections, the project is conducting geotechnical and geophysical explorations of the areas near the rail. These explorations involve taking subsurface samples and examining the geologic composition of the area which will help inform the design of the rail.