LEHI — Thanksgiving Point is at the heart of some dramatic change and growth in this area over the past two decades.

Population growth

The Point of the Mountain in northern Utah County is much different than it was 20 years ago.

Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain were made up of just a few houses than and Thanksgiving Point wasn't on anyone's minds.

But in the last 10 years, the area has seen a 40 percent population increase.

One resident, Clint Bishop, works in downtown Salt Lake and lives in Saratoga Springs. Despite the commute, he vouches for the location.

"What I love about it is that it is pretty central," Bishop said. "If I were to work at a job down in Provo or Salt Lake, it's really in between both of them, so from a commuting standpoint it's pretty nice to live in between the two areas."

Bishop and his wife have two children and another one on the way later this month. They have chosen to settle in northern Utah County for a lot of reasons. They call it kid-friendly, like that it's out of the city and feel it has more recreational opportunities for their family.

"You can drive a few minutes one way and be out in an open area and drive a few minutes the other way and be to where all the stores and shops that you need are, so it is sort of the best of both worlds," Bishop said.

While newer cities like Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain have seen explosive growth, established communities have too.

Utah County's population in 1980 was 218,000. In 1990 the population grew to 263,000, and in 2000, it had reached 371,000. Last year the population in Utah County topped 516,000, adding 145,000 residents in 11 years.

Northern Utah County's housing market was not immune to the recession, however, and it faced foreclosures and short sales. But currently, new construction appears to be picking up.

Soon, Bishop and his family will relocate to a new home in Eagle Mountain.

"We're looking to move in the next month or so," Bishop said. "We've lived in Saratoga Springs previously and we're moving to Eagle Mountain. Obviously I could have moved a lot closer to work near Salt Lake City, but I chose to stay in that area because it's nice, it's cheaper, it's a good place for families and it's a great place to live."

Utah County travel

Several major road projects are helping the community catch up with the fast growing population.

Over the past five years, UDOT has spent $2.5 billion dollars on road improvements in Utah County.

The majority of that funding has gone to rebuilding 24 miles of I-15, but a long list of new roads and improvements are helping with the skyrocketing growth, and now, people are finding the commute is easier. State and local government have invested heavily in the transportation system, especially in north Utah County.

"In Utah County since about 2007 there has been $2.5 billion invested, so about $670 million outside of the CORE, for those projects," said UDOT Region 3 Director Shane Marshall.

Those projects include widening Redwood Road rebuilding Geneva Road in Orem, along with the new Pioneer Crossing, a new direct route to the northwest side of Utah County, which was followed by 2100 North in Lehi.

"Lehi Main Street was the only road out to Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs and they've both grown by 1000 percent over the past 10 years," Marshall said. "The traffic on Lehi Main Street is down about 40 percent since we put in both Pioneer Crossing and 2100 North.

SR-92, now the Timpanogos Highway, will finally be completed this summer, after several construction delays. The expanded highway will also feature commuter lanes, new non-stop lanes to help commuters get to and from the freeway faster. UDOT believes the idea is an innovative approach to projected future growth.

The massive I-15 CORE project, stretching from Lehi Main Street to Spanish Fork is on track to be finished in December. The north end of the project from Lindon to Lehi will be fully opened by the end of June.

Another big project, UTA's Frontrunner, will be up and running in December with new service from Provo to Salt Lake.

Business Development

The explosion of mobile technology could be one of the reasons why the landscape is changing so much in the area.

Tom Karren located his start-up, MokiNetworks, in northern Utah County. A lot of companies have had the same idea. Microsoft opened an office there, Adobe's building their big campus and NSA's secret data center is under construction.

Karren says it has a lot to do with competition for workers.

Related:

Summer of Fun: Take a trip to Thanksgiving Point

It's too bad smell-o-vision hasn't been invented yet, because the gardens at Thanksgiving Point would be a great place to use it.

"The main reason we located out business here was because we could pull employee resources from both the Salt Lake Valley and the Utah Valley," Karren said. "It's a younger workforce that knows these new technologies and if you look at the demographics of the valley, where are the younger workers located? South Orem, American Fork, Herriman and Tooele.

Lehi Economic Development Director Doug Meldrum says more business is on the way. Thanksgiving Park is building a new tower and projects are in the works at Traverse Mountain on land owned by Micron and other locations.

"There's a synergy in the area, and when you've created that synergy they kind of play off of each other," Meldrum said.

What to do in Northern Utah County

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

One thing Thanksgiving Point is famous for is its gardens. Its15 themed gardens are spread over 55 acres, 13 of which are grass. And there are 4 miles of walking paths to take it all in.

The gardens have six full-time staff members making sure the gardens are as beautiful as possible and 26 seasonal gardeners help manicure the trees, shrubs and flowers.

Mammoth Screen

In addition to the gardens and shopping at Thanksgiving Point, the Mammoth Screen offers entertainment for families.

The six-story screen engages the audience in 2,700 square feet of cinematic intensity, and the Museum of Ancient Life, where the theater is housed, is teaming up with National Geographic to offer higher quality productions.

It's the only one of its kind in Utah and one of first in the nation. Thanksgiving Point officials say they hope this partnership will bring more people in.

"National Geographic's got quite a name in their magazine and they've got the Discovery Channel and things like that people enjoy and watch," said Museum of Ancient Life Director Gary Hyatt.

Contributing: Andrew Wittenberg

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