Nearly $2M awarded for Riverside projects near Wright-Patterson

The city of Riverside has also been awarded a $700,000 federal grant to improve the safety of the Woodman Drive/Harshman Road corridor from U.S. 35 to Springfield Street near the Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

Creating the safety plan will cost about $875,000, Riverside City Manager Joshua Rauch said.

“This grant is transformative and will help us address safety challenges in the corridor, reduce incursions into the base fence, and create the infrastructure that our residents, businesses, and region need to thrive,” he said in an email.

Funding for the Woodman project was announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation. It will be used to complete an infrastructure study and corridor design along Woodman, according to the city.

“This is a significant win for our community,” Riverside Mayor Pete Williams said in a released statement. The “funding will help us bring much-needed improvements.”

Improving the Woodman/Harshman area is a multi-year, phased project which the city has estimated will cost more than $30 million.

Phase I of the project includes U.S. 35 to Eastman Avenue, near Spinning Hills Middle School, according to the city. This work, estimated at $6.38 million, is expected to start in April 2025 and take up to 16 months to complete, Ohio Department of Transportation records show.

Work completed last year near WPAFB on Harshman involved repairing a center barrier wall separating traffic in an area that averages more than 20,000 vehicles a day.

The federal grant will allow the city to address safety issues throughout the corridor, including the Harshman wall, Rauch said. So, Riverside is likely to suspend further investment in the wall pending the results of the corridor study, he said.

Meanwhile, the county is receiving a loan at 3.66% for 20 years from the Ohio Water Development Authority, the state announced this week.

It will be used to construct 8,000 feet of water line along Barrett, Trunk and Travis drives, Enright Avenue, and Canova, Lawver and Wendell lanes, according to the authority.

The work is expected to cost about $2.25 million and is targeted for completion in early November, said county spokeswoman Megan O’Leary.

The current lines are about 70 years old, she said. Sections of road may close as the work progresses, but the project is expected to have “very little” impact on traffic, she said.