Construction begins on Bear Lake’s $62M marina expansion

RICH COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) — After years of planning, construction is now underway for the $62 million marina expansion project at Bear Lake State Park. Construction is expected to last three years. When finished, the marina will have increased capacity, improved lake access, and greater safety.

Dozens of state and local leaders were joined by local business owners and construction partners Monday morning on the shores of Bear Lake for a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the expansion. The expansion consists of a new marina, which will sit directly north of the existing marina.

“We would have liked to have started earlier but now today means we are starting the physical construction of this project,” Park Manager Richard Droesbeke stated.

The legislature approved the project’s funding back in 2022. Droesbeke told reporters that since then, there has been a lot of work going on behind the scenes to get to this day.  

“We have to get it designed and drawn up and the architecture done — using marina designers — and having to go through the environmental permitting process from the Corps of Engineers and such,” Droesbeke explained.  

“The growth up here has been growing.” he stated. “Bear Lake’s nickname is the Caribbean of the Rockies. It’s got great color and attracts people to come up.”  

According to the Utah State Parks, in 2020, all parks saw a 36% increase in visitation as people got outside during the pandemic. This is an increase of 1.78 million visitors. Since then, Bear Lake State Park has continued to see high numbers of visitors. In 2024, it had an increase of six percent from the previous year. That meant more than 650,000 people.

“The word is definitely out,” Patrick Floyd told ABC4.com. “It’s definitely out.”

Floyd grew up in the area and can attest to how much it has changed in recent years.  

“I think it’s almost overwhelming for a lot of people because they’re like, ‘Wow, how do we deal with the influx that this might bring?’” Floyd said. “I think those are good problems that we want to have rather than what do we do if we don’t have the infrastructure for these people to come to.”  

As a business owner and president of the local chamber of commerce, Floyd explained that they have just 100 days to cash in on tourism. He added, “So for every boat that we can put out on the lake, every person we can bring into the valley, just helps those businesses make that money in that short season.”  

The new marina will be deeper to allow for bigger boats. The expansion will add 300 boat slips, additional parking, and a new beach. Along with all that, a new ramp will be 10 lanes wide so more people can launch and load at the same time. This is meant to make the process faster but also safer.  

“It can get quite dangerous on the lake in the afternoons,” Rep. Tiara Auxier (R-Morgan) stated. “My family has experienced it too, so to be able to get off all the boats of all the people who want to enjoy the lake, I think that is going to be a huge thing.”  

Auxier continued: “When we’re looking at funding of this magnitude, we look at something that is going to be overall good for the state and not just little special interest groups here or there. This is something that is going to affect people for generations and is well worth the investment.”