It may be easier to find an open picnic table up Provo Canyon in the next few years if plans fall into place.
Provo City made its move this week to go along with the Utah Department of Transportation and ensure that a roadside park is built at the mouth of the canyon. The council passed a resolution placing two acres of city property on Provo's surplus property list.That land, located near the Murdock Dam, will be added to state land and Orem City land and will go toward building a 5.5-acre park, Mayor Joe Jenkins said.
UDOT will construct the park with part of the $1.6 million it has allotted for parks along its roadways, the mayor said.
The council voted to give the land to UDOT on the basis that a park be created within the next two years. UDOT will maintain the park, which extends from the highway to the Provo River.
If the land is not used as a park, ownership will revert to Provo because "Provo could use the money just as much as any other governmental agency," Council Member Anagene Cottrell said.
The land has previously been used to store rock used in road construction. Rock remaining on the land will be used to build 37th North, Jenkins said.