Consultants preview Riverside SS4A draft action plan; $875,000 federal/local package targets Woodman corridor

Consultants from Wolpert and representatives from the Montgomery County Transportation Improvement District on July 7 presented Riverside City Council with a draft Safe Streets for All (SS4A) action plan that city staff said is aimed at preventing roadway deaths and serious injuries and positioning the city for follow-on implementation grants.

Nate Fisher, consultant with Wolpert, said the city was awarded a $700,000 federal SS4A grant with a $175,000 local match, for a total project package of $875,000. "The goal of the action plan is to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries," Fisher said. He described the action plan as the first required step to become eligible for additional implementation funding from the Federal Highway Administration.

The draft plan combines a citywide analysis with a narrowed focus on a corridor that Wolpert identified for the SS4A-funded work: the Woodman corridor, from I-35 up through Springfield Street. The consultants described a safety analysis that used crash records (data from 2020 and through 2022), third-party speed estimates derived from phone- and vehicle-based datasets, and public engagement that produced nearly 300 public comments after a June public meeting hosted at Mad River Local Schools.

Wolpert outlined candidate strategies and projects including intersection reconfigurations (compared in feasibility work against signalized alternatives), roundabout concepts at several intersections, corridor-level pedestrian and bicycle facilities (sidewalks or shared-use paths), and potential repurposing of a bridge deck near Eastwood Metropark to extend a trail. Fisher said the feasibility study will assess cost, right-of-way needs, safety benefits and maintenance implications and will include traffic simulations to compare alternatives.

Council members pressed on timing, costs and trade-offs. Councilmember Fry asked whether the roundabouts were fixed or conceptual; Fisher replied they are concepts to be evaluated against signalized options and ranked in a matrix that compares safety benefits, right-of-way needs and cost. City Manager Josh told council that funds the city received through Congressman Turner's office recently became available and will be used to advance initial feasibility work. "That money just became available to us last week," Josh said during the presentation.

Fisher described the grant agreement as having a 24-month execution period that requires follow-up steps; he and the manager said the city will seek council adoption of the action plan at the August meeting to meet a Federal Highway Administration deadline. Next steps described include feasibility and engineering work beginning in August, environmental and archaeological screening, selection of preferred alternatives around next summer, and a phased approach to funding and design. Councilmembers cautioned that construction remains years away: Councilmember Denning said the city was likely "five or six years before we actually get started on construction."

Stakeholders engaged in the plan included Mad River Local Schools, the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission (MVRPC), the Montgomery County Engineer's Office, ODOT and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The consultants said the plan's documentation and task force structure satisfy elements required for future SS4A implementation grant applications.

Councilmembers thanked the consultants and regional partners; the manager said he would return with a resolution for formal adoption of the SS4A action plan at the council's next meeting in August.