Heber's New 300 South Trail Ends at the Depot. The Next Trail Is Meant to Start There.
November 12, 2026
November 12, 2026
The corner of 300 South and 600 West in Heber City has always meant one thing: the Heber Valley Railroad. It is where you park, find the platform and wait for a whistle. Its official address is the depot at 450 South 600 West, where every North Pole Express run starts and ends.
This fall that corner took on a second job. Heber City's West 300 South Trail now runs west from Main Street Park to 600 West and ends at the railroad terminal. On paper, that is also where a separate UDOT trail along the rail corridor is designed to finish. Two trails, paid for by two different public budgets, are aimed at the same intersection. This winter, the city's half is done.
The new segment runs along the north side of 300 South from about 100 West to 600 West. That is roughly 2,000 linear feet, and an 8-foot-wide concrete multi-use path has replaced the old sidewalk. The bid documents call for 16,250 square feet of concrete trail, along with ADA ramps, pedestrian crossing signs and new pavement striping.
The city scheduled the official opening for Halloween weekend. It set a ribbon-cutting for 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 30, at the southwest corner of Main Street Park, right before Heber Halloween Fest. Heber City's announcement promoted it this way:
Kick off the evening's festivities as Heber City officially opens the new 300 South Trail! Be among the first to walk the new path and celebrate this exciting addition to our local trail system before diving into the park activities.
Picking Main Street Park for the ceremony makes sense when you look at what the segment finishes. Heber City's Parks and Trails Master Plan calls for a trail along 300 South from 600 West to 500 East. The part east of Main Street was built in 2024. The part west of Main Street was the gap, and the new concrete closes it. The 300 South corridor now runs as one planned route across Main Street, from the east side of town to the depot.
The 300 South route was not a new idea. The master plan behind it was adopted on Jan. 5, 2021. Building the west half took several steps over a few years. According to a Heber City Council staff report for the April 21, 2026 meeting, the city's POSTT Committee recommended finishing the west side in fiscal 2025. A budget amendment then paid for engineering design, and Sunrise Engineering handled design and bidding.
The project went out to bid on March 19, 2026, and 13 bids came in by the April 9 opening. The spread was wide for a stretch of concrete under half a mile long:
The council was asked to award the contract to JL Concrete, the low bidder, and the high bid came in about $287,000 above it. Staff estimated the total project cost at $479,000, including a 10% construction contingency. The money came from the city's Parks Impact Fee fund, which held $719,000 in the fiscal 2025/26 budget, rather than from a grant. Because the city paid with its own funds, it could build this half on its own schedule, without waiting on the larger state-funded project headed for the same corner.
That larger project is UDOT's Heber Valley Railroad Rail Trail, a paved asphalt path that will generally follow the existing railroad corridor. In a May 2024 announcement, UDOT set aside $8 million for it. The plan includes 1.8 paved miles running from the railroad terminal at 300 South and 600 West to 1200 South.
The UDOT project page splits the work into sections. Section C runs from 1200 South to the intersection of 300 South and 600 West, which the page itself calls the Heber Valley Railroad terminal. It includes an at-grade crossing at about 1050 South and 1140 West. Section A starts near the Deer Creek Reservoir multi-use trail parking area and runs to the intersection of Tate Lane and SR-113.
| Segment | Route | Built by | Status as of November 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| East 300 South Trail | East of Main Street toward 500 East | Heber City | Completed in 2024 |
| West 300 South Trail | About 100 West to 600 West, north side of 300 South | Heber City | Official opening scheduled by the city for Oct. 30, 2026 |
| Rail Trail, Section C | 1200 South to 300 South and 600 West | UDOT | Under review with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |
| Rail Trail, Section A | Deer Creek Reservoir trail parking to Tate Lane and SR-113 | UDOT | Under review with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |
UDOT says Section C is still in review with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The page gave September 2026 as the expected month to advertise for construction bids and said work could start as early as December 2026. Those were planning targets, so the rail trail's half of the junction is still planned rather than built. Residents can get weekly updates by emailing [email protected] with "Weekly Updates" in the subject line. Questions go to the project hotline at 888-704-4276.
Until that work begins, the city's concrete ends at a corner that, for now, mostly serves the train.
The city timed the trail's opening for the weeks before the depot heads into its busiest stretch of the year. Here is the season by date:
The ride is a 90-minute round trip with hot cocoa, a chocolate chip cookie and bottled water. On the way back, Santa greets each child and hands out a gift. Ticket prices vary by coach and date. On Oct. 12, the Heber Valley Railroad released individual seats on select dates in the 1291 Luxury Lounge car and the 4729 Luxury Dome Car.
For the first time, those 5 p.m. departures sit at the end of a dedicated path from Main Street Park, about 2,000 feet of new concrete west of 100 West.
Winter also brings new rules for the streets beside the path. Heber City's on-street parking restrictions start Nov. 15 and run through April 1. During that period, Heber City Code 10.16.040 bans parking or leaving vehicles on the paved part of city streets or within five feet of it. The city's winter reminder also asks residents to clear snow and ice from the sidewalks in front of their properties and to keep at least three feet clear around fire hydrants.
When UDOT's Section C is built, the trail from 1200 South will finish where the city's 300 South path already ends, at the railroad terminal on 600 West.
Jenny Mecham of Echelon Luxury Homes follows projects like the 300 South Trail and the Heber Valley Railroad Rail Trail because they change how Heber Valley homes connect to town, and that matters before anyone starts comparing listings. If you would like to talk through what this new path and the planned rail trail mean for a home you own or one you are considering, please schedule a private consultation.
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