Finally, after long-standing efforts to secure funding, collaboration with numerous partners, and a three-year build, we are celebrating the opening of UTA’s Central Depot District Garage — Depot District for short.
This is the first building UTA has built since Meadowbrook Service Center in South Salt Lake in the early 80s.
The new Depot District is a state-of-the-art maintenance facility that can store 150 buses and, as the need arises, expand to service 250 buses. It includes a new bus maintenance shop, bus wash, diesel fueling center, administrative offices, and charging facilities for a fleet that includes 24 electric buses and 47 compressed natural gas (CNG) buses.
The new building will replace the old Salt Lake Central Garage and will free up land at the site for a potential mixed-use Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) that would help address Salt Lake City’s housing shortage. This nine-acre redevelopment project is anticipated to bring hundreds of new apartments, shops, offices, museums, green space, and a public market.
Quick Facts
- Cost: $96 Million
- Designed by: Stantec Architects
- Built by: Big D Construction
- Home to: 150 operators, 50 maintenance employees, and 20 administrative employees
- The project originated with the efforts of late United States Senator Orin Hatch helping to secure the $36 million from the Federal Transit Administration.
What Was There Before?
To make way for the new garage, UTA repurposed a century-old railroad site, once used as Denver & Rio Grande Western’s (D&RGW) locomotive shop. The shop operated as a maintenance facility from the mid-1880s to the late 1950s.
Celebratory Remarks
This achievement was marked with a press event with representatives Mike Schultz and Kay Christofferson speaking, as well as UTA Board Chair Carlton Christensen, UTA Executive Director Jay Fox, and FTA Region 8 Administrator Cindy Terwilliger.
This is a significant step forward for UTA, Utah, our employees, and most importantly, our riders. A modern, robust, and expanded facility allows us to provide increased reliability and positions us to provide more service. Here’s to Depot District! Here’s to more transit along the Wasatch Front!