Courtesy Vineyard City

The Utah Department of Transportation has started construction on a new significant project through Vineyard. With the recent wrap-up of the FrontRunner station, UDOT has recently begun the first phase of the Vineyard Connector and the re-striping of 800 North to 1600 North in Vineyard. Infrastructure investment continues to be a key focus in Vineyard’s growing community.

Early Vineyard settlers, who ran commercial farms during the earlier years of incorporation, planned for exponential growth. Originally, they had hoped to preserve more agricultural spaces, but as their children transitioned away from farm life, they created a general plan that laid the foundation for what Vineyard looks like today and for the future.

Vineyard’s second mayor, Randy Farnworth, and his council made a huge shift into envisioning Vineyard as a walkable community. Instead of small pocket parks with no connectivity, the council pushed for larger communal parks with connected trail systems, bringing residents to local amenities like local parks, Utah Lake and safely to Vineyard’s schools. Early designs of the Vineyard Downtown were updated to include the first linear park in a large transit oriented development.

However, Vineyard’s crossroads still needed help. Holdaway Road, a street where the majority of residents lived in 2010, was designed to be the main connector point between the southern and northern portions of Vineyard. The city was bifurcated by rail, and 800 North was just being completed. The only exit out of Vineyard was 400 South. The remaining commercial farming property retained the alternate Main Street passage easement that would eventually lighten the throughput the small farm road would begin to experience.

In 2018, old agreements with the railroad were still unresolved. However, by August 2018, major headway was made with the railroad and discussions for completion of the Center Street overpass were achieved. By this time, housing and easements would call for a one lane each direction bridge to carry people out of Vineyard as a third alternative.

Courtesy Vineyard city

Housing approved between 2007 and 2014 would set the pace for commercial, retail and throughput. The discussions with the railroad continued, and the city built the overpass offsite, until the final agreements were resolved, coming in on time and under budget.

The city continued to grow at an incredible rate, and much of the infrastructure that would be needed was owned by the state, the railroad and transit authority. The city wanted a grocery store, students needed to get to college and people needed to get to their jobs. Vineyard was selected to have multiple modes of transportation in the long-range regional statewide transportation plan. This became the model the city would lean into to accommodate growth and create the excitement from various industries viewing Vineyard as prime land in a burgeoning county.

Growth was hitting statewide, beyond Vineyard and Utah County, and road funds were projected out over a decade. The state was entering an affordable housing crisis. The missing middle housing that has welcomed so many first responders, teachers, young families, retired individuals and young professionals into our community was reshaping the needs, and landscape, in Vineyard.

As a result, Vineyard, located in the heart of the state’s growth and economic centers, would have to find a way to move up in funding priorities, and put in place infrastructure before additional amenities and residents came. A FrontRunner station would have to be strategically placed before ridership could be calculated, as well as a state road would need funding without a robust growth metric, and a large railroad agreement would have to be completed.

Each of these tasks were accomplished, and continue to be added upon as we work to accommodate the growth in the city and the build out to come. The railroad, after furthering the agreements and building on the accomplishments in 2018, is now working to become a greater partner by opening discussions for additional crossings that had originally been determined to be closed intersections. Vineyard’s agreements are creating a grid network to bring in better businesses, a more complete system to move people more efficiently and better connections to provide for better safety vehicle routing.

Courtesy Vineyard city

These road connections will allow for the expansion of Center Street, the connection of 400 North onto Geneva Road, the opening of 1200 North on both Geneva and the Vineyard Connector, and the completion of 1600 North. As Holdaway Fields begins to develop, the street completion will be triggered, and the south to north Main Street connection will be completed. Additionally, the Vineyard Connector is presently underway, and a large connector street from 300 West will bring residents over the Vineyard Connector into the downtown and out of the city. Vineyard is grateful to all of the partnerships in the greater region and state for their vision and foresight in moving these regional connections forward.

The FrontRunner was completed, and Vineyard was not only able to show there was plentiful ridership, but also displayed an immediate need for the additional parking accommodations, which Vineyard requested. With the expansion of SLC International Airport, and Provo Airport on the cusp of becoming international, the easements and connections into bus systems and light rail corridors, also part of the long range transportation plan, is at the forefront of our engineering and planning discussions.

Vineyard’s transportation network is robust, and will continue to develop over the next several years. Vineyard is creating an updated transportation plan and is working on public outreach. In April, we encouraged our residents to respond to a survey about our Transportation Master Plan and dozens of residents came to a Community Fair to view maps and provide input.

Vineyard City has experienced significant growth in the last several years and is anticipating substantial growth for the foreseeable future. The Transportation Master Plan will plan for the city’s future transportation network, including roadway, transit, bicycle and pedestrian facilities.

The goal of this plan aligns with the city’s goal, which is to “Stay Connected,” connecting all of Vineyard’s residents and workers to each other with all modes of transportation. The TMP is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2023 and we look forward to sharing the results of our survey and our recommendations with the City Council and Vineyard residents.

Courtesy Vineyard city

We’ve asked residents to respond to their previous experience using Vineyard’s transportation system and give feedback on what they hope to see improve in the city going forward. So many people have come and made great comments on the plan already, and hopefully more will participate as the outreach continues.

Vineyard has been working with neighboring cities to complete current regional trail connections. These routes will bring residents to amenities in Vineyard as well as the greater connected region. May is Vineyard Bike Month and our Bicycle Advisory Commission has planned some amazing ways to get people moving on our trails. Vineyard’s bike trails connect throughout the city and take people from their front doors through wetlands, parks, businesses and even along the shores of Utah Lake.

Recently Vineyard updated its active transportation plan to help build safer routes to school, provide better places for biking with kids, bolster paths for recreational bikers, and make better connections for serious cyclists. An active transportation plan is taking place on Holdaway Road this year.

For many years the city has been working with and encouraging residents to prepare for sidewalks and include better paths for their children get to the nearby elementary schools. This year, a planning group will work with residents to help move this project forward, and capture feedback for what residents are seeing day-to-day. While May will be filled with construction and new signage for our road network, we will be promoting ways to get out and bike all month long.

While our significant snow pack certainly helped our statewide drought, Vineyard is taking active steps to conserve water and reduce the City’s water consumption by five percent, and will be posting information to help residents find potential opportunities. While the warmer temperature is causing concern about spring runoff and flooding, Vineyard is not expected to see city-wise flooding issues.

We are always prepared for the unexpected, and are encouraging residents to clean their drains and prepare their lots. Additionally, Vineyard is prepared to assist our residents and our neighboring cities if the need should arise.

We are well-stocked with sandbags and have an experienced public works team who continue to mitigate flood risks, and lend their support. Residents can visit our website for additional information about the city’s flooding preparations.

Please follow Vineyard’s communication channels for construction notices, event updates, and other news happening in the community. Quality of life is the work of cities, and while it can take time to build a community from the ground up, the speed and agility with which Vineyard has been able to maintain and build is greatly due to our incredible thought leaders, regional and state partners, residents who come in with solutions and feedback, and people willing to go to work. You all make it possible to move at the incredible pace we’ve been running at.

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