Toward The Promised Land

With more people in Utah, how will mass transit figure into state plans to move residents and visitors toward the proverbial promised land of seamless and fast transportation? 
By Taylor Larsen

"What gets you out of Egypt doesn't take you to the promised land."

The quote, as I first heard it, came from Ron Dunn, Founder of Salt Lake structural engineering firm Dunn Associates.

While he was talking about the differences between founding and growing a company, the same principle holds true in developing a robust transportation infrastructure.

In other words: "What got us here will not take us there."

What has taken us here has been development dedicated to personal vehicles and last-mile freight—a stellar network of roads and highways from massive investments in horizontal construction. 

But what will get us "there" to the promised land? What will bring us to a future where Utahns can have the freedom to move without a car?

Unified Plan for a Connected Utah?

We'll certainly wander in the West Desert without a plan. Lucky us, we have hundreds of agreed-upon proposals across metropolitan planning organizations, cities and towns, counties, and even the Utah Department of Transportation. 

The Beehive State's guiding document toward long-term transportation plans, whether for cars or not, is found in the Utah Unified Transportation Plan, also known as the Unified Plan. The visionary document aims to prioritize funding across multiple transportation options and give residents choices, ranging from personal vehicles to mass transit and active transportation. Residents and metropolitan planning organizations across the state have added their input to further unify the state's trajectory.

Key in Utah's Unified Plan, as documented, is analyzing and ultimately determining how transportation projects in Utah should be funded between 2023 - 2050. With projected needs across that timeline estimated at $153 billion in today's dollars, current revenue sources generating just under a projected $95 billion, and future revenue streams projected to generate just over $18 billion, we're going to be short. 

But where is that money going? Most often, it's funding roads. According to the Unified Plan, transportation needs from road capacity, maintenance, preservation, and operations project at a whopping $110 billion between 2023 - 2050, with a $29 billion funding gap in revenue. Funding future mass transit capacity ($14.8 billion) and operations ($19.8 billion) over the next 25 years costs a fraction of the projected costs for roads and highways. 

It's an apples-to-oranges comparison, admittedly, as massive funding for highways and freeways has created so much, but where do state priorities lead?

Budget at a Glance

Utah continues to tread the asphalt and concrete highway to prioritize highway funding. UDOT's FY2026 funding document shows $2.5 billion in funding. Estimated Transportation Investment Fund (TIF) expenditures, primarily used for improving or optimizing capacity, are projected at $1.2 billion. Within the TIF, Class B & Class C Roads, county roads and city streets, respectively, will receive $261 million, Highway Systems Construction $205 million, and Operations/Maintenance $254 million. 
 
It makes sense when $883 million in projected revenue for FY2026 comes from user-based fees, permits, and gas tax revenues (set to be 40 cents per gallon in 2026).

On the other hand, UDOT-funded mass transit receives a bulk of its budget from the above-mentioned Transportation Investment Fund—35% of the index fuel tax sales tax goes into the Transit Transportation Investment Fund. For FY2026, transit and commuter rail projects will receive $103 million.

John Gleason, UDOT's Sr. Public Information Officer, said there is a major shift happening within UDOT over the last decade-plus to give some "gas" to other forms of transportation. 

"All transportation is important to us. For every project we undertake, we are looking at the different components across all modes—cars, transit, bikes, trails," Gleason said. "We need to keep an eye on how the entire transportation system can function across the state."

The words and shift in priorities are welcome, but what "Keeps Utah Moving", will not be more highway lanes or highway construction that receives the lion's share of transportation funding. Utah highways, like those in so many other states, are the victims of induced demand. 

The phenomenon is a matter of economics. For vehicle transportation, each lane added, highway developed, or road widened helps to expand capacity on these newly modified transportation corridors. However, expanding capacity does not mean solving traffic concerns. While capacity expands, more people are "induced" to use these freshly expanded corridors, lanes fill back to capacity, and commutes return to their sluggish nature.

This never-ending quest to meet our transportation needs is set to play out again on I-15. UDOT is set to add another lane on I-15 from Farmington to Salt Lake, and do so at a multi-billion-dollar price tag. Surely this lane will be "The One" that fixes the traffic problem on Utah's busiest transit corridor?

Utah may still be adjusting to roundabouts, but will we ever get out of this circle?  

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Riding Toward a New Trajectory


Alternatives exist. Even if they don't get the same funding dollars, mass transit continues to change the transportation conversation.


In Utah mass transit circles, UTA receives a bulk of the attention and state dollars. Their buses, light rail cars, trains, and more move thousands of people each day across the Wasatch Front. UTA ridership exceeded 40 million in 2024, and the agency has recovered to 91.5% of its pre-pandemic ridership—significantly above the national average of 79%, according to the American Public Transportation Association.


UTA's 2025 budget is divided between operations ($650 million) and capital projects ($330 million). Nearly 80% of operations are funded from sales tax, while the capital budget's most significant funding comes from grants (39% of that budget).


Gavin Gustafson, UTA's Sr. Public Information Officer, said that investing in transit is a win for everyone.


"Even if there are only five people on the bus, that's five cars not on the road," he said. "And then [UTA is] taking hundreds of cars off the road with FrontRunner."


FrontRunner, the commuter rail system, has helped connect cities across the Wasatch Front since opening in 2008. Today, the rail system has a daily average of 14,000 riders.


Think of the traffic it has saved! 


Those who plan our transportation networks certainly have. Gustafson said UTA Moves 2050 Vision Network (UTA Moves) is UTA's long-term plan that looks to bring additional mass transit choices to Utah over the next 25 years. UTA Moves includes plans for new rail stations to Bluffdale, Springville, and Brigham City, new bus routes in West Valley and Magna, and many potential routes and services in an ambitious plan to take us "there". 


How ambitious? Implementing it all would require $6.7 billion in transit infrastructure and $225 million annually (in 2023 dollars) to operate it. UTA Moves documents are clear that these plans are fiscally constrained, stating, "Investments in the 2050 UTA Moves Vision Network must be prioritized to determine which best meet regional mobility needs."


Much like the Unified Plan, "It's a matter of funding," Gustafson said about UTA's long-range plans to further connect riders to destinations. "We would love to do everything, but we need a stronger ridership and more funding to accomplish some of those ambitious goals."


The message is clear to help move Utah in a new direction. It's in big letters on the UTA Jordan River Trail Service Center: Ride The Train. 


Or take the bus, streetcar, On Demand, or vanpool.


FrontRunner Double Tracking;  

New TRAX Line Incoming


Gustafson and Josh Van Jura, UDOT Director of Trails and Transit, are excited about a future transit development: double-tracking FrontRunner. Since just 26% of the 82-mile train line is double-tracked, the UDOT-led project, known as Frontrunner 2x, will add double tracking in 11 strategic locations to take the amount of double-tracked line to 58%. Doing so will decrease the wait times for the next train from 30 minutes to 15 minutes during peak hours. And by 2050, FrontRunner riders can wave to drivers as the train zooms past them on I-15, as the commuter rail service is expected to outperform I-15 travel times—something it already does on occasion.


The project is capital-intensive, Van Jura noted. Currently, Utah has allocated $845 million to Frontrunner 2x and has applied for the federal Capital Investment Grant as a "Core Capacity" project. Van Jura said that this grant will subsidize $2.1 billion of the project.


Much like ongoing efforts with Frontrunner 2x, Utah must continue to expand on its mass transit success to help clean the air, reduce the amount of Utah's notorious drivers on the road, and build additional transit infrastructure to "Keep Utah Moving".


As FrontRunner double-tracking and new stations come to fruition, UTA's light rail system has additional plans in the works with another UDOT-led project: TRAX Orange Line.


Gustafson and Van Jura said that the Orange Line has passed through a few of the initial development phases. Van Jura said that $6 million was recently allocated to the project's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process. Once NEPA proposals are reviewed in full by UDOT, the department will issue a final decision on the route, which aims to take riders directly from the Salt Lake City Airport (another form of mass transit!) to the University of Utah's Research Park. 


The Orange Line will require a realignment of the TRAX Red Line and will then modify TRAX Blue and Green Line operations. Passengers and officials hope that TRAX service is fully operational, new routes and all, before the 2034 Winter Olympics.


The future of light rail is exciting, especially for what it means for ongoing development in Salt Lake County and beyond.


Bus Rapid Transit Lines Move Along


This placemaking component is central to Utah's embrace of bus rapid transit (BRT). The concept is straightforward: buses run on a route, usually with dedicated roadways, where they receive priority at intersections where they may interact with other traffic.


Ted Knowlton, Wasatch Front Regional Council Chief Planner & Deputy Director, said, "BRT offers the placemaking aspect of rail with the stations. It's telling the community, 'We're stopping here and we're investing here.'"


According to Knowlton, BRT is a critical piece of how transit can grow in Utah. "BRT projects can be delivered with much lower costs than rail, can get you 'there' as fast as rail, and have great flexibility," he said. "For example, BRT can deviate from its route to deal with things like a traffic accident or a parade."


Investments like these are in operation, with more on the way. Of the two BRT lines currently up and running, the Utah Valley Express (UVX) has buses running every six minutes at its most frequent intervals, taking over 5,000 daily riders across the metro area between Provo Central Station and Orem Central Station. UVX has been UTA's most popular bus route since it began service in 2018.


The second BRT line in operation is the Ogden Express Line (OGX), which began running in 2023. OGX takes over 2,600 daily riders across Ogden in 10-minute intervals. The five-mile route starts at Ogden Central Station before heading east on 23rd Street and 25th Street, and then south on Harrison Boulevard and onto Weber State's campus and on to a final destination at McKay-Dee Hospital. In its first year of service, OGX moved nearly one million riders.


BRT has benifitted the community in other ways, too. Metropolitan planning organization MAG Utah found that, since opening in 2018, UVX and surrounding infrastructure along the route may have played a key part in a 40% reduction in annual car crashes. The University of Utah found that UVX may help to take a conservative average of 1,500 car trips off the road every day.


Building and growing transportation capacity via bus? Maybe induced demand isn’t all bad.


Additional BRT Lines Move Forward


Two more BRT lines are in design or construction. The first, the Midvalley Express (MVX), will feature an all-electric bus fleet to transport future riders between Murray Central Station intermodal hub, Taylorsville and the expanding SLCC Redwood campus, down 4700 South—with portions of this part of the route on dedicated bus lanes—and on to the intermodal hub at West Valley Central Station. Riders will be able to board the dedicated bus stops on the seven-mile route in spring 2026, almost a year ahead of schedule.


Construction of BRT infrastructure is fairly straightforward, according to Maverick Gibbons, Project Manager for transit contractor Stacy Witbeck on both projects in the works. "At their core, these are road projects with enhanced bus stops.”


While BRT may be simple to build, its indirect effects are massive.


Returning to construction, the key to success on a straightforward scope, Gibbons explained, starts with considerable time in preconstruction to identify utilities and plan the various systems required to enhance these bus stops.


Case in point is the second BRT line progressing toward construction: SR-224 BRT for High Valley Transit in the Wasatch Back. The project is the recipient of $25 million in federal DOT funding as part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It aims to transport 5,000 riders per day between the Kimball Junction Transit Center and Old Town Park City, and multiple new and existing stops in between, utilizing dedicated BRT lanes between Kimball Junction and Kearns Boulevard in Park City.


Design work began in January 2025, and Gibbons said the team will soon pre-stage the project by installing five miles of fiber-optic cables on the BRT route through Park City. This winter, Gibbons and the Stacy Witbeck team will later work with trade partners to remove landscaped islands near the Canyons Resort.


Gibbons said that ongoing work on the MVX line has encountered a few speed bumps as its path moves from West Valley City to Taylorsville to Murray. 


"Cities all have different ways they want to see things done," he said, before stating that following UDOT specifications or even a standardized approach could help move projects like these along in a more timely manner without having to work through three cities' public works expectations. "We miss the consistency," he said.


The Choice is Ours


Utahns value freedom. While cars are a great symbol of freedom, investing in additional transportation options is how leaders can continue to give residents and visitors the freedom to move however they please.


Plans like the Unified Plan, UTA Vision, and others hold promise, but it remains to be seen whether state transportation leaders will continue to drive in circles of car dependency for 40 years, or embrace a change in transportation funding and prioritization to emphasize mass transit—and take Utah to the proverbial promised land. 

Black Desert Oasis

By Brad Fullmer • October 15, 2025
When Lehi-based Reef Capital Partners (Reef) initially announced plans in 2018 to build a sprawling, estimated $2 billion mega-resort with a championship-caliber golf course on 600 acres covering parts of Ivins and Santa Clara—small towns with just over 15,000 combined residents at the time—it was difficult to fathom what a project of that magnitude might look like. Fast forward seven years, and Black Desert Resort is indeed a shining oasis amidst Southern Utah's famed red rock cliffs, sitting atop an ancient lava field, with buildings strategically carved into the land to produce a resort unlike anything else. "This is the biggest project we've ever done—we feel really good where we are," said Brett Boren, President of Real Estate for Reef, acknowledging the general completion of the $290 million, 806,000-SF resort center, along with significant ongoing work—including a 1,298-stall parking garage, condominiums, and a private water park. As of September, all aspects of the main resort center were open and fully complete, with the hotel celebrating its first official year in business after partially opening in September 2024 as it hosted the inaugural PGA Black Desert Championship October 10-13. The second installment of the tournament—now dubbed the Bank of Utah Championship—is slated for October 23-26, with a third tournament signed for 2026.

Calder Richards Celebrates 20 Years of Sustainable Evolution

By UC&D • October 1, 2025
In 2005, Calder Richards Consulting Engineers formed after the merger of two smaller structural consulting firms who, interestingly enough, both started in 1986. Calder Richards has provided a steady structural support for Utah’s built environment ever since. As the firm celebrates its 20th anniversary, UC+D spoke with Managing Principals Shaun Packer and Nolan Balls to look back over the company’s history and celebrate what has helped their firm stand out to deliver solid projects in Utah and beyond. Their responses were edited for clarity and brevity. UC+D: What have been some catalytic moments for Calder Richards since that initial merger? SP: Winning the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona is the first one. The big reason for the merger between Richards Consulting Group and Calder Consulting was to build a large enough company to go after bigger projects like that.” NB: That was my first project when I was hired straight out of college. We helped design the 17-story hotel and casino, a conference center, as well as parking structures, a central mechanical building, and a pool building. Talking Stick helped get us through the downturn a few years later. UC+D: What have been your key market sectors you all have targeted over the last 20 years? NB: We were breaking into K-12 along the Wasatch Front soon after the Talking Stick Resort and it’s been our bread and butter since then. SP: Absolutely, but I credit our firm for always adapting to the current environment. We’ve been fortunate to do so much K-12, but we used to do a lot of office work, and now we are working on conversions like the Ebay Headquarters to CTE/Innovation Center for Canyons School District as the market has shifted away from commercial office. UC+D: Schools have certainly evolved over the last 20 years, how has your work as structural engineers evolved? SP: We are seeing more creative design on the architectural side, certainly. We see many more two-story designs; more windows and daylighting. But we’re utilizing more powerful tools and continually building our understanding of the structural materials that are in use more than ever—tilt-up concrete, steel columns and beams, especially—to be the architect’s trusted partner. NB: Schools have definitely changed, and we’ve had better experience in helping projects move forward successfully when we are involved earlier in the design process. As we got involved early on in West High School’s schematic design, we were able to provide structural solutions and options to accommodate the architects’ design intent. UC+D: How has company growth changed Calder Richards? SP: It’s certainly changed the number of people in our office. We started with around 10 people when we merged, and today we have 27. But we often say that we don’t want to grow just to grow—we want to grow sustainably. We don’t lay people off when works slows down, and we have an expectation that sometimes there will be overtime work, and other times you may be waiting for our next project to begin.

The (Epi)Center of it All

By By Taylor Larsen • October 1, 2025
Nested in the middle of the University of Utah (U of U) campus sits the aptly-named Impact & Prosperity Epicenter, the second living learning community (LLC) project designed on campus by Los Angeles-based Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign. After nearly a decade since their first LLC project, the award-winning Lassonde Studios (UC+D’s 2016 Most Outstanding Public Building over $10 million), Mehrdad Yazdani, the design firm’s Principal and Studio Director, said their work on a sequel was an exciting prospect for the firm, and enlisted Salt Lake-based MHTN Architects and Okland Construction to serve as the respective local architect and general contractor. Today, the Epicenter serves as a striking piece of architecture and construction, one whose curvilinear shape asks users and visitors plenty of questions. But moving from idea to execution has been a work in progress. One query from Yazdani stood out as it relates to students and the built environment, and helped begin the journey to create the Epicenter: “How does your living environment as a student impact your success as a student and as a changemaker?” A Project for an Evolving Campus Katie Macc, CEO of the Sorenson Impact Institute, said LLCs like the Epicenter and Lassonde Studios next door have been massive steps forward in advancing entrepreneurship and social impact. But both play a major role in creating “college town magic”—a phrase coined by University President Taylor Randall that invokes a vibrant campus where students can find community and have one-of-a-kind experiences. With more on-campus student housing in the works, the state’s flagship university is hoping to shed the “commuter school” label and deliver a level of desirability that matches the resources students commit to higher education. “There is some soul searching going on across university campuses,” said Macc of the challenge at hand. “We have to be convincing that going to college matters.” She said overall university enrollments across the nation are decreasing as students grapple with tuition costs, COVID and its isolating aftershocks, and a different perspective on higher education. Universities are no longer a place where students come to learn what they couldn’t learn elsewhere—remote learning and the internet have opened a fissure in that idea that will never close. Instead of that educational transaction, being at a university must include building community and creating in-person experiences only available on campus. Macc said that the Epicenter helps steer the campus experience toward the future, with design goals to create a base of operations for two changemaking organizations and a living and learning home for 778 students. The three-story commercial portion of the building, known as the “Changemaker Pavilion”, includes office space for The Center for Business, Health, and Prosperity (second floor) and the Sorenson Impact Institute (third floor). While each organization has a different focus, both are firmly invested in helping students access and create the resources needed to change the world. Each entity works hand-in-hand as owners of the Epicenter to host events and “create a full spectrum of ways for students to get involved,” said Chad Salvadore, Chief Financial Officer for the Sorenson Impact Institute. “We’re dialing in the programming to energize the student body,” said Salvadore of the work done at the Epicenter. With over 60 majors represented among the 778 students who live there, he said that the diversity of students is less a reflection of their chosen major and more a desire to reside in a space built for students to work their entrepreneurial muscles. “Living here is a mindset—you can engage across many different paths you choose.”

Goal!

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
Front view of the bleachers, press box, and suites. (photos courtesy SIRQ Construction)

Four Decades of Transformation

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
Over the course of its 40-year history in Utah, WSP's Salt Lake office—originally founded as Parsons Brinckerhoff in 1985—has morphed from primarily a transportation design firm to one that successfully operates in multiple civil engineering markets. The results of WSP's transformation the past decade into a more diverse outfit speak for themselves, with the 128-person Salt Lake office (with locations in Cottonwood Heights and South Jordan) posting three consecutive years of revenues over $50 million, including a record $70.1 million in 2023, and a robust $59.9 million in 2024—good for the No. 2 ranking in UC+D's 2025 Top Utah Engineering Firms rankings.

Good Career? Start Here

By Taylor Larsen • October 1, 2025
Lucio Gallegos vividly remembers the workforce development meetings he attended during his time at Ogden-Weber Tech. These career and technical education (CTE) discussions consistently focused on one thing: young people were not entering construction, and the industry needed a new approach to attract them. Gallegos recalled one member of the workforce development team, a training director with a prominent general contractor, saying, “We have been trying this for over 10 years, screw it, we’re just gonna hire them.” The Long Road Those conversations occurred nearly 10 years ago, and workforce development concerns continue to permeate the industry. The National Center for Construction Education & Research estimates that 41% of the construction workforce will retire by 2031, leading to potential gaps in skill and safety and decreases in productivity and project quality. While stakeholders have aligned on the overall goal of providing students a foundation for future success through career development, the means to achieve the ends were seemingly at odds. High schools, trade schools, colleges, and private industry took different paths to achieve their goals, with some moving in opposite directions. “I’m gonna be honest with you,” Gallegos recalled one school administrator saying, “If I promote what you’re telling me to get them over to the tech college, I lose head count. And then I lose teachers. I can’t have a school without teachers.” Jobs that took away student learning experiences, according to federal guidelines and child labor laws, made the idea a non-starter. However, after years of lobbying the Utah Legislature for a compromise between industry and education, H.B. 055, passed in 2023, provided a catalytic change in how younger people can engage with construction and other industries. High school students could participate if they were involved in a school-sponsored work experience and career exploration program. Private industry finally had the compromise it wanted. It was time to act. Big-D Charts New Path Gallegos, now the Workforce Development Manager from Big-D, joined the company in 2023 with the express purpose of creating a program that fit within the new guidelines. Gallegos said he sees career development through the lens of the immigrant experience, one he knows personally as a Mexican immigrant with a father who worked in commercial construction. “I was 9 years old and busting pins out of concrete forms with a hammer that was as big as I was,” he laughed. “I’ve got the cliché immigrant story.” That story has a theme familiar to many immigrant families, he said, one where parents say, “I want my kids not to have to work as hard as I do. I want them in school.” Add to that, it’s a law—children must attend school. Gallegos was unfazed by those obstacles. As he began planning how Big-D’s internship program would operate, he knew that engagement had to start at the elementary school level and build on personal relationships between private industry, school administrators, students, and their families to succeed. “We want to be the solution, not the obstacle to get into this industry,” said Gallegos. So Big-D removed the barriers. Students can still attend school, work towards graduation, and be available in the afternoon for sports, extracurricular activities, and the high school experience. But working was another significant part of the immigrant experience, Gallegos said, and internships needed to be paid to alleviate the family concerns. “We asked what we would pay somebody fresh out of high school who worked at Big-D,” Gallegos said. Interns have earned those same wages ever since.

It's A Knockout

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
On January 2, 1957, Gene Fullmer, a scrappy, underdog fighter from West Jordan stunned the boxing world with a 15-round unanimous decision over the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson at New York’s fabled Madison Square Garden. Fullmer captured the world middleweight championship and established himself as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers during the late 50s and early 60s. Since then, the Fullmer name has been synonymous with boxing in Utah, with brothers Gene, Jay, and Don establishing the Fullmer Brothers Boxing Gym in 1978, and offering free boxing instruction and life mentoring to thousands of youths—carrying on a tradition they learned from their trainer, Marv Jenson. Their legacy of community giving will live on in the new Fullmer Legacy Center in South Jordan, a 16,500-SF facility that will serve as a permanent home to the boxing gym—after years of bouncing around to various temporary facilities—along with a museum, snack bar, and gift shop. “The Fullmers are the first family of boxing in the state of Utah—that’s well understood,” said Dave Butterfield, a founding board member of the Fullmer Legacy Foundation. Butterfield served as Chairman of the Board from June 2016 to early 2025 and was influential in helping raise money—nearly $6 million via donations to date, which includes $2 million from the Utah Legislature. Project Driven by Vision to Find a Permanent Home for Fullmer Brothers Gym It was Jay Fullmer who led the charge to teach boxing in the community. By 1978, the Fullmer Brothers Boxing Gym had formally opened at the Butterfield farm chicken coop in South Jordan, recalled Larry Fullmer, Don’s oldest son and the man who spearheaded the efforts for the Fullmer Legacy Center. From there, Larry said the facility moved to Riverton Elementary, an old church house in West Jordan, a sugar factory, a former fire station, and the Salt Lake County Equestrian Park in South Jordan, where it had resided since 2011. When they got word that Salt Lake County planned to transfer ownership of the park to Utah State University, Fullmer knew they needed to find a long-term home for the boxing gym. Fullmer met with Butterfield and Robert Behunin—who at the time was a Vice President with Utah State University—in 2016 and told them he just wanted a “tin shed of our own” for boxing. Behunin countered by saying, “If you want people to donate money, you need something better than a tin shed!” They quickly formed the Fullmer Legacy Foundation (FLF), and by 2018, the wheels were in motion on a building. Doc Murdock, a long-time trainer at the gym, connected Larry with his former roommate at Brigham Young University, Vern Latham, who is a Principal at Salt Lake-based VCBO Architecture. VCBO offered pro-bono services initially while helping FLF put together an RFP, while North Salt-based Gramoll Construction provided value engineering and other services in an effort to get the project launched. Larry expressed sheer gratitude for the contributions of both firms in helping make the project a reality, especially for many generous donations from various foundations and individuals. “[VCBO] believed in us early on and did our first phase of planning at no charge—they have been amazing and so professional to work with,” said Larry. “Gramoll helped us get the budget done as tight as it could be. This project had the absolute tightest budget. We met weekly with architects and the general contractor to see the progress—I’ve never seen such an amazing process. Construction started in November ’23, and every time I would come to the jobsite in the first six months, I’d get emotional.” “We leaned on our relationships with contractors for flooring, ceiling, tiles, donated furniture and got deep discounts and a lot of in-kind donations,” said Phil Haderlie, Principal-in-Charge for VCBO. “To me, the story of this project is the grassroots effort of people seeing the value—this is something that came from their heart. It will have a long-lasting impact on the community.”

Significant Buzz

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
The first season is in the books for the Salt Lake Bees in its spectacular new home—the Ballpark at America First Square, the exciting new heart of Downtown Daybreak and certainly one of the premier Triple-A stadiums in the country. "It's a really cool stadium—the field looks so good!" gushed Eric Barton, Project Director for Salt Lake-based Okland Construction, while surveying the spacious 280,000 SF, 6,500-seat (8,000 capacity) ballpark. Barton said his team faced an extremely difficult construction schedule with the mandate the project had to be sufficiently ready for Opening Day 2025 on April 8, less than 18 months after the formal October 20, 2023, groundbreaking. Barton said Okland knew it was going to be a grind, with long hours and tight windows to get various milestones accomplished. "When we bid this to our trade partners, we had them bid it with the expectation of it being six days a week," he said. "We want not only your best guys, but you have to be adaptable to the plan. It was gangbusters from the start.” Up to 300 workers were onsite during peak construction activity, requiring meticulous coordination throughout. Okland even brought in Fred Strasser, a legendary project director who came out of retirement to shepherd the project through. "Fred is the genius behind getting this whole thing done," said Barton. The project was designed by Salt Lake-based HOK, who worked closely with the owner, Sandy-based Larry H. Miller Real Estate (LHMRE) and Miller Sports + Entertainment (MSE) to bring about a project that would add even more buzz to its wildly popular, 4,000-acre master planned Daybreak development in South Jordan, making it a true entertainment destination. The design weaves together best-in-class baseball experiences with year-round public amenities, including a recently opened Megaplex theater, a performing arts center, a large amphitheater, along with retail, restaurants, and apartments, with buildout continuing through 2027. Walking paths and open spaces create natural connections between The Ballpark and the surrounding neighborhood, making the area an iconic community asset and a true sports and entertainment district. Downtown Daybreak is slated to host more than 200 annual events—including the Bees’ 75-game regular season. Supporting this entertainment destination, the venue’s prominent location just off the Mountain View Corridor freeway makes it highly visible to passing traffic while providing easy access. The stadium is also connected to multiple transportation options, easily reached by walking, biking or light rail across the Wasatch Front, and by car from the new freeway corridor. The Ballpark site drops 20 feet from the loading dock to the plaza, managed through terraced spaces that echo the region’s mining heritage. Though the slope stays gentle at under 5%, carefully placed stairs and planters make walking comfortable while honoring the industrial past. The center field main entrance connects to light rail, while a formal plaza at home plate serves as a second entrance, primarily for VIP access. The street design follows Daybreak’s established standards for lighting and tree spacing. Bike racks at the light rail station and plaza make cycling to games convenient. Utah’s Landscape Shapes Design The Wasatch Mountains, visible from every angle of the ballpark, directly influenced the ballpark's design. Throughout the venue, carefully planned viewpoints frame these mountain vistas. The structure resembles this mountainous setting in its form, transitioning from solid brick and concrete at its base to lighter materials—metal and expansive glass—as it ascends. Working with Kansas City-based architectural metal fabricator Zahner, HOK and MSE created a distinctive facade using perforated metal panels that suggest Utah mountain peak silhouettes from Ben Lomond Peak in Weber County to Mt. Nebo, the southernmost and highest mountain in the Wasatch Range of Utah. These panels transform into a glowing display at night, serving as a lantern on The Ballpark’s ‘front porch’ and welcoming visitors. This connection to Utah’s landscape flows throughout the site. Angular planters guide visitors along pathways, while public spaces are arranged in terraces that echo the mountainside. The copper colors and stepped surfaces of the nearby Kennecott Mine inspired the ballpark’s materials and layout. Inside, the decor features warm copper, gold and honey tones, with textured materials that blend the natural landscape with the Salt Lake Bees’ team colors.

Firms Making Moves

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
Horrocks CEO Bryan Foote (left) shakes hands with Matt Hirst, former President/CEO of CRS Engineering & Survey. Horrocks acquired CRS a year ago in a move that has proven to be a seamless fit for more than 60 CRS employees.

Q&A with Nathan Goodrich

By UC&D • August 1, 2025
Nathan Goodrich