Pleasant Grove has watched car dealerships go to Lindon and shopping malls go to Orem, generating enough sales tax revenue in those cities to build parks with waterslides, to renovate libraries and fund recreation centers.

Orem's University Parkway business corridor, the envy of mayors throughout Utah County, generates 35 percent to 40 percent of the city's sales tax revenue. Orem will get about $13.8 million in sales tax revenue this year, about $1.4 million more than Provo, Utah County's largest city. Pleasant Grove, a much smaller city with a population of about 23,000, will get about $2.2 million.

"We're the third-largest city in Utah County, but we have a tax base of a city the fraction of our size," Blanchard says. "We're lagging behind. We're not where we want to be."

This summer, Pleasant Grove's first interchange was completed. Framed by wrought-iron fencing, decorative lighting, trees, shrubs and flowers, the offramp is a sight to behold. At night, the fountain flowing in its median is lit up, as is a rock stream that runs alongside the interchange.

Landscaping for new interchanges is paid for by UDOT, unless the city wants something extravagant that exceeds UDOT's project budget, which was the case in Pleasant Grove. To beautify an existing interchange, cities must pay for the landscaping themselves.

To do so, most apply for federal enhancement funds. Provo's University Avenue interchange cost $600,000 to landscape, the bulk of which came from federal funding. Once landscaping is put in, cities are responsible for maintenance.

Pleasant Grove spent $1.7 million in city funds to landscape its interchange. UDOT kicked in $500,000.

"We saw it as our first opportunity to make an impression on people as they come into the city," said Pleasant Grove City Councilwoman Cindy Boyd. "It's the first thing people see."

The interchange levels out into Pleasant Grove Boulevard, which winds through hay fields and dusty farmland and leads to Main Street, a quiet little strip where napping dogs and farmers in bib overalls wouldn't look out of place.

City officials such as Blanchard and Boyd have big hopes for their new boulevard.

But it is too late to attract such big-box retailers as Wal-Mart and Costco to Pleasant Grove, says City Manager Frank Mills. Those stores have already gone to neighboring cities.

When he looks out at the hay fields that surround the boulevard he sees a walkable community with upscale stores, similar to The Gateway in Salt Lake or The Shops at Riverwoods in Provo.

Because the water table is high near the boulevard, Mills hopes retailers who build along it will build water features like fountains and streams around their stores.