Uintah Public Safety Complex

April 25, 2008

Groundbreaking Set for Uintah County Public Safety Complex

170,000 square foot facility will house all law enforcement agencies under one roof

VERNAL, Utah(April 25, 2008) – Ground will be broken for the Uintah County Public Safety Complex on Friday, May 2, 2008. The groundbreaking will be held at 2 p.m. at the construction site, which is located at 631 East 300 South. The public is invited to attend. The 170,000 square foot facility will be constructed by Layton Construction Company, with JWL Architecture and Babcock Design Group collaborating in a joint-venture effort for the building’s design.

Uintah County’s jail has been operating at capacity for quite a while. The number of people moving into the county, along with the rising number of people suffering with substance addiction, has substantially increased the number of inmates, a problem not expected to decrease in the future. Additionally, the current jail facility, built in 1985, is suffering infrastructure failures that can only be remedied by replacing the facility.

The Uintah County Public Safety Complex will include a new county jail with 192 cell beds, a new courtroom with attorney’s offices, a new sheriff’s office as well as space for the FBI, Utah Highway Patrol and Emergency Dispatch. The complex will include a full-service kitchen and laundry area as well as medical facilities, and will be constructed with room for future dorm expansion.

The jail cells used for the facility will be Tindall precast concrete jail cells constructed in Atlanta, Georgia. The cells will be shipped by rail to the nearest rail spur and trucked to Vernal. Once on the construction site, the cells are erected, taking only about a week to put them in place. These types of jail cells were previously used by Layton Construction for the Davis County Jail Expansion project that was completed in 2006. Each 13-by-7 foot prefabricated unit contains two cells, each containing two bunks and a wall-attached desk and toilet. Using the precast, ready-made cells allows the project team to get a high-quality product at a lower cost and in a compressed construction time schedule.