Our July report called this the Provo River Delta's last construction summer, with the Old Provo Channel amenities wrapping by mid-summer and Utah County's repaving of the trail to the lake following behind. The summer is over. The project's own status update says the amenities are built but not finished, and the paving has not started.
Here is where each piece stands, per the Provo River Delta Restoration Project's summer 2026 update on its website — content-dated by a June 17 carp count and a July 29 photo, and current as of our September 1 check. It is the project's account of its own work; nothing here has been inspected in person.
Boat ramps: functional, edges unfinished
Crews have completed initial construction of two non-motorized boat ramps on the Old Provo Channel, and the project says the ramps are now functional. You can put a kayak or paddleboard in.
What is not done is the trim: additional work to secure the ramps' edges and connect them to the river trail has been deferred until the county repaves. So the ramp is usable and the approach to it is whatever the old trail surface and bank look like today. If you are carrying a boat, expect a rough walk-in rather than a finished landing.
Fishing piers: built, fenced, being reinforced
This is the item that slid the schedule. The project built three fishing platforms on the channel over about a month this summer, at locations chosen from local anglers' feedback. The piers are, in the project's words, mostly complete. But inspectors identified additional work needed to reinforce their stability and safety, and the platforms stay behind red fencing and warning signs until that is done.
The update says reinforcement would take place over the next few weeks. It has not posted a completion notice, and the fencing should be assumed up until it does. The piers are then to be tied into the channel trail during the county's repaving — which means even a reinforced pier may sit a step above an unpaved approach for a while.
The Division of Wildlife Resources has meanwhile kept stocking the channel, so the fishing the piers are meant to serve exists now; it is the platforms that do not.
The repaving: "later this summer," and summer is gone
Utah County is repaving the Provo River Parkway from Lakeshore Drive to Utah Lake State Park with money the delta project provided for it. The project's spring FAQ sequenced it after the amenities; the summer update says it will happen "later this summer," after the piers are complete.
Neither the county nor the project has published a start date, and as of this writing the county's trail-closure notices list the 820 North bridge replacement but nothing on the lake end. Two things follow for anyone using the west end of the Parkway:
- The existing surface is what you get for now — old asphalt, the same as it has been.
- When the paving starts it will be a closure on the last stretch to the lake, possibly announced with little lead time. If a through-ride to Utah Lake State Park matters to your plans, check the county's trails page the same week.
Our Provo River Parkway guide covers the rest of the trail's 2026 work, including the Bridal Veil bottleneck at the canyon end, which is a separate project on a separate schedule.
The fish, which is the point
The recreation features are the visible part of a project whose purpose is the June sucker, the threatened fish found only in Utah Lake. The same update carries the season's monitoring:
- Biologists recorded over 4,500 adult June suckers in this year's spawning run, which the project stresses is only a portion of the fish actually spawning.
- Larval monitoring after the run showed large numbers of young fish coming downstream into the delta — the nursery function the delta was rebuilt to provide.
- A "carp run" in the delta reached several thousand fish by June 17 at an upstream limit at the Lower City Dam diversion. Removal followed, and the project used the episode to publish a guide to telling an invasive common carp (barbels at the mouth, large obvious scales, legal to harvest) from a native June sucker (protected).
If you fish the channel and pull up something you are not sure about, that distinction matters: carp are yours to keep, suckers go back.
What has not changed
The delta proper is open and has been since October 26, 2024 — the Skipper Bay trailhead, the wildlife viewing tower, the non-motorized launch and the 3.8-mile loop. Delta Gateway Park on Lakeshore Drive has been open since June 25, 2025. None of that is affected by the channel work. The Utah Lake guide covers access from all sides, and the delta birdwatching guide is written for the open part.
We will update this post when the fencing comes down, when the county posts a paving date, or when the project publishes a revised completion date. It has published none of the three.
Source: Provo River Delta Restoration Project, "Fishing Piers and Boat Launches Take Shape along the Old Provo Channel" and "Spawning Runs and Fish Monitoring," provoriverdelta.us, summer 2026 update (undated on the page; content references June 17, 2026 and a July 29, 2026 photograph), retrieved September 1, 2026. The mid-summer target is from the project's FAQ. County paving status is from Utah County's trail notices as of the same date. Nothing on this page has been inspected on site.
Related Guides
- The delta's last construction summer — the July report this post updates
- Provo River Parkway: the complete guide — the whole trail, including the canyon-end work
- Utah Lake: the complete guide — every access point on the lake
- Birdwatching at the Provo River Delta — the open part of the delta, by season
- Fishing near Provo — where the Old Provo Channel fits among the options
- Kayaking and paddleboarding in Provo — the launches that are already finished
