Business Relocation

The I-15 Core expansion adds several new lanes and revised intersections spanning 24 miles starting in the town of Lehi and heading south passing through American Fork, Pleasant Grove, Orem, Provo, Springville, and Spanish Fork.

For the size of this project, there are relatively few businesses having to relocate.  What I see is a good effort by the design team to utilize the existing right of way, already owned by the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), avoiding significant impacts to businesses and property owners.

There are a large number of partial, or strip takings, which minimizes the typical impact on businesses on a project of this size.  Strip takings may create some severance damages resulting in UDOT making cost-to-cure payments to solve problems and make a property functional after the new right of way severs the properties.  This will likely create some business relocations, which sometimes show up when the impact to the property is understood by the property owner or the business tenant.

 Although minimal, there are some full acquisitions of commercial properties were UDOT is using eminent domain to force the sale of the property.  This has triggered business relocations with the use of UDOT’s Acquisition and Relocation Guidelines.

 UDOT’s guidelines closely follow the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Acquisition and Relocation Guidelines. However, UDOT has enhanced the federal guidelines by increasing payments in two areas, the in-lieu payment category, and the reestablishment category.  

 The in-lieu payment, which is a one-time payment to businesses based on their average annual income, was increased from the FHWA limit of $20,000 to a maximum payment of $75,000. The in-lieu payment requires the business to wave all of their rights to other relocation benefits, which can be a significant sacrifice for a business even at the increased level. 

 The increased reestablishment category, which FHWA limits at $10,000, UDOT increased to $50,000.  The reestablishment category covers a certain number of business cost reimbursements that are in addition to the moving, reinstallation, and other costs related to the business relocation.