UDOT

UDOT maintains almost 16,000 lane miles of state highway across Utah, which amounts to a multibillion-dollar investment in roads, bridges, and other real property assets.  UDOT and its predecessor, the State Road Commission, have been acquiring real property for highway development purposes since the early 1900s.  This property acquisition process continues to move forward as the State’s highway facility footprint expands in proportion to Utah’s significant population growth. 

These factors combine to add multiple levels of complexity to the property management of these parcels.  The property management division must work closely with various project management teams to ensure that properties purchased for a project are cleared in the appropriate manner for the project needs.  This can include leasing parcels to allow for good stewardship of the lands and structures owned, to demolition work to clear the Right-of-Way.

At a high level, any surplus land transaction (lease requests or surplus sales) requires us to walk through several important steps, including:
 

• Understanding any other encumbrances or property rights that may be associated with the land at issue.
   
• Analyzing the potential and actual future needs for the land at issue for transportation purposes.  UDOT has a fiduciary responsibility to the public to not dispose of any real property interests that it may need for future transportation purposes.
   
• If a parcel can be declared available to lease, a market study of the land based on the intended use must be performed, and a lease offered with that market study rate in mind.  Lease terms can be as short as a few months, or as long as a few years, depending on project needs.

• A few things to note: leasing does not make any warranty on the suitability of the property in question, it is up to the requesting party to ensure the business model and zoning are compatible.  Leasing does not grant access to the parcel beyond what exists, no new access is granted by the request submission.
   

UDOT’s Property Manager is dedicated to helping interested parties navigate these complex processes.  The leasing process can take between 2-10 months to navigate and may be declared not advisable and no lease option available at any time.