Bluffdale, Utah, United States

🇺🇸 Bluffdale is a city in Salt Lake and Utah counties in the U.S. state of Utah, located about 20 miles (32 km) south of Salt Lake City.

From 2011 to 2013, the National Security Agency's (NSA) data storage centre, the Utah Data Center, was constructed at Camp Williams in Bluffdale. It is approximately 1 million square feet in size.

History Bluffdale, named for its geography of bluffs and dales, was first settled in 1848–1849, when the area was originally part of West Jordan. On July 29, 1858, Orrin Porter Rockwell paid five- hundred dollars to Evan M. Green for sixteen acres of land near the Crystal Hot Lakes (adjacent to the present Utah State Prison). This land included Hot Springs Hotel and Brewery with dining facilities, a stable brewery, and a pony express station. As the community expanded, the Bluffdale area became part of South Jordan, then Riverton. In 1883 the Bluffdale School Precinct was formed from parts of Herriman, South Jordan, and Draper. On August 1, 1886, the Bluffdale Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized with Lewis H. Mousley as Bishop. For a short time, the town was called Mousley. Seven irrigation canals originate at the Jordan Narrows in the Bluffdale area and serve the Salt Lake Valley. One of the earliest was Utah, and Salt Lake Canal started in 1862. Some of the early buildings included an adobe church, built in 1887–1888, a tithing house, and a three-room schoolhouse constructed in 1893. The city was incorporated in 1978.

Geography Bluffdale has an area of 10.22 square miles (26.47km²) and an average elevation of 4,436 feet (1,352 m) above sea level. Bluffdale is predominately located in Salt Lake County, though a portion of the city is in Utah County. Bluffdale shares city borders with Herriman to the west, Riverton to the north, Draper to the east, and Lehi to the south.

Bluffdale is surrounded by wide open spaces with dramatic views of the Wasatch and Oquirrh Mountain Ranges. The Salt Lake Valley floor is the ancient lakebed of Lake Bonneville, which existed at the end of the last Ice Age. Several Lake Bonneville shorelines can be distinctly seen on the foothills or benches of nearby mountains. The Jordan River flows through the city and is a drainage of Utah Lake that empties into the Great Salt Lake.

Parks The largest park in Bluffdale is Wardle Fields Regional Park, part of the Salt Lake County Parks system. At 40 acres, the park caters to the recreational needs of the region by providing a splash pad, a 25-foot tall watchtower, pickleball and basketball courts, bouldering walls, zip lines, and other amenities.

City Parks Bluffdale has a system of 13 parks. Some of the most notable are: • Bluffdale City Main Park (22.37 acres) is the city's largest park and features two pavilions, 16 picnic tables, a trail, sports fields and restrooms. • Vintage Park (6.37 acres) is one of the city's newest parks and features pavilions and picnic tables, open grass areas, pickleball(2) and tennis courts(2), a sand volleyball court and a splash pad. • Independence Park (5.73 acres) features a splash pad, 3 pavilions, restrooms, and a variety of play equipment. • Parry Farms Park features a pavilion, restrooms, 4 pickleball courts, a basketball court, a sledding hill, and play equipment. The parking lot on Jordan Parkway Trail. (5.63 acres) • Parry Farms Baseball Fields 2 little league size fields (7.22 acres) • Phillip Gates Memorial Park a pavilion, restrooms, play equipment and walking trail(4.54 acres) • Mount Jordan Park features open grass area, 2 pavilions, playground equipment and restrooms(3.69 acres)

Trails The City hosts a variety of beautiful and well-maintained trails weaving through and around the city. A significant portion of the Jordan River Parkway Trail, a 40-mile trail crossing three counties, goes through Bluffdale. The City's trail system includes cycling, pedestrian, and equestrian routes.

Utah Data Center The Utah Data Center, also known as the Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative Data Center, is a data storage facility for the United States Intelligence Community that is designed to be a primary storage resource capable of storing data on the scale of yottabytes (1 yottabyte = 1 trillion terabytes, or 1 quadrillion gigabytes). Its purpose – as the name implies – is to support the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), including storing details of people's mobile phone and internet use, though its precise mission is secret. The National Security Agency (NSA), which will lead operations at the facility, is the executive agent for the Director of National Intelligence. It is located at Camp Williams.

The structure is 1 million or 1.5 million square feet and cost $1.5 billion when it was completed in May 2014. One report suggested that it also cost another $2 billion for hardware, software, and maintenance. The facility is estimated to have a power demand of 65 megawatts, costing about $40 million per year.

Transport: Road Bluffdale lies at the convergence of one major and two minor freeways: I-15, which runs north-to-south to the east of the city; Bangerter Highway, which runs east-to-west between Bluffdale and Riverton; and Mountain View Corridor, which runs north-to-south to the west of the City. Porter Rockwell Boulevard is a five-phase road project that serves as an I-15 and Mountain View Corridor connection, the only east-to-west connection in the county.

Public transportation Bluffdale has no public transportation system. The commuter rail system, FrontRunner, passes Bluffdale but does not have a stop there.

Air transportation Salt Lake City International Airport is approximately 28 miles (45 km) north of Bluffdale.