New entrance in the works for Riverland promises safer access

Project completion expected end of October

Improvements have begun on the southern entrance into Riverland Industrial Park. A new deceleration lane and acceleration lane will make it safer for traffic to move in and out of the industrial park. The new lanes will align with the acceleration and deceleration lanes for the Lacy Ranch, and will bring the Riverland entrance into compliance with state mandates.

“We wanted to keep it a little simpler because we thought we could decelerate into the entrance that exists by putting a wider shoulder in,” said Riverland lot owner’s association manager Danny D’Aquila. “But there wasn’t enough deceleration because of a guard rail a little to the north of the existing entrance.”
Instead, a deceleration lane of about 900 feet is being added for traffic turning into the park and an acceleration lane of the same length is being added for traffic turning south out of Riverland. D’Aquila expects the project to be completed by the end of October, provided that the weather holds.
“We could have been quicker to start, but we would have been in the way of all the biking events at the end of August. So we chose to keep the corridor pretty and not create any conditions that would take away from the events,” D’Aquila said.
Construction of the new entrance and reclamation of the old entrance are being completed by John Councilman, Inc. (JCI); United Companies will complete the paving. That portion of the project should be completed about the first week of October. The county will then chip seal and stripe the road.
According to D’Aquila, it’s taken a lot of partnership to make the project happen. Rancher John Rozman contributed three acres of land along the highway, and United Companies and the county are donating their portions of the project. With Riverland Industrial Park paying for JCI’s work over a period of seven years (estimated at just over $110,000), D’Aquila says, the project will do more than improve the southern entrance.
“The industrial park paid for road improvements that bring traffic into and out of the park, but it also takes truck traffic going to the United Operations and keeps it outside of our park,” D’Aquila said.
The changes will be beneficial for United Companies as well, which hopes to move its operations from the west side of the East River to a gravel pit on the east side that is closer to the road but less visible.
“It will be less impacting to the view corridor, so it’s a much bigger project than the entrance. It was a big improvement for everybody,” he said. “It’s been very costly for us, but we’re beyond that now and it’s happening, and the end result will be extreme safety improvements.”