Utah is getting more than $16.5 million from the federal government to build a brand-new veterans cemetery in Washington Terrace and expand an existing one in Bluffdale, a combined investment aimed at giving thousands more veterans and their families a place to be laid to rest closer to home.
The Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration announced the funding, according to ABC4 Utah. More than $14 million of that total is earmarked for establishing the Northern Utah Veterans Cemetery in Washington Terrace, while almost $2 million will go toward expanding the Utah Veterans Cemetery and Memorial Park in Bluffdale.
A New Cemetery for Washington Terrace
The Northern Utah Veterans Cemetery is expected to serve more than 4,000 veterans and eligible family members in the area, per the same report. Plans for the site include a memorial wall, an assembly area, an administration building and a maintenance building, along with additional infrastructure, landscaping, irrigation and equipment.
A state solicitation for the project, filed under Utah's Division of Facilities Construction and Management, confirms the scope of the build: site improvements, utility infrastructure, hardscape, irrigation and landscaping installation, and building construction, according to bidnetdirect.com. The solicitation describes the project simply as construction of a new veterans memorial cemetery in Washington Terrace, Utah.
Bluffdale Cemetery Adds Niches for Cremated Remains
The Bluffdale expansion is smaller in dollar terms but still significant for a site that already serves a much larger population. The Utah Veterans Cemetery and Memorial Park currently serves 102,000 veterans and eligible family members in the region, the report notes. The expansion project will add 1,400 columbarium niches along with additional landscaping and irrigation.
Part of a Bigger Federal Push
VA Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Sam Brown framed the Utah awards as part of a broader mission. “The grants enable states to better serve veterans and their families where they live,” Brown said, per ABC4 Utah's report.
The agency has awarded more than $1 billion in grants for establishing and maintaining veterans cemeteries since 1980, funding 125 cemeteries nationwide over that span, the outlet reports. VA grant-funded cemeteries have interred more than 44,000 veterans and eligible family members, representing roughly 25 percent of total annual interments across all national and VA grant-funded cemeteries, and more than 94 percent of U.S. veterans now have access to burial benefits at a cemetery within 75 miles of where they live.
Utah's push for a northern cemetery has been in the works for years at the state level. Utah legislative records show a concurrent resolution tied to the Northern Utah Veterans Cemetery grant submission, with its last recorded action on March 14, 2023, when the governor signed it, according to the Utah Legislature. A separate state fiscal follow-up record lists funding for construction of a veterans cemetery in northern Utah, identifying the governor as the requester, per the Utah Legislature.
The Utah grants land amid a wider national funding cycle for state veterans cemeteries. The VA awarded more than $77 million in fiscal year 2025 grants for the expansion and improvement of 20 state veterans cemeteries, according to VA News. The agency's Veterans Cemetery Grants Program also maintains a priority list of fiscal year 2026 grant construction preapplications for states seeking similar funding.
