Riggin Avenue Frontage Road

The Riggin Avenue widening project between Mooney Boulevard and Conyer Street will widen the existing undivided 2-lane roadway into a 4-lane divided roadway consisting of landscaped median islands, incorporated bike lanes and four travel lanes. 

With this widening project the City is proposing to incorporate a local frontage road along the southside of Riggin Avenue between Divisadero Street and Conyer Street.

Frontage Road Update

The City of Visalia has completed the public outreach efforts for the frontage road proposal along Riggin Avenue between Mooney Boulevard and Conyer Street. Nearly 80% of public respondents supported the frontage road, with none of the respondents who are directly affected by the frontage road disapproving of the proposal. 

Considering the overwhelming support for the frontage road, staff will proceed with the incorporation of the frontage road into the project’s design as proposed. The following information includes the current project schedule:

Riggin Avenue Widening Project from Mooney Boulevard to Conyer Street
- Currently in Design
- Utility Pole Relocation completed
- Roadway Construction to start first quarter of 2025

Learning About the Project: What is a frontage road?

A frontage road is a local street designed and constructed parallel to a higher volume higher speed roadway referred to as arterial or collector street; Riggin Avenue is classified as an arterial street.  The function of a frontage road is to separate residential or local traffic from the higher speed and often regional traffic that the adjacent arterial street would carry. 

Frontage roads provide residents that face an arterial street a local street configuration to enter and exit their homes; this eliminates the sometimes tedious or stressful operation of exiting and entering one’s home on to an arterial street that has high-speed and high-volume traffic.

Riggin Avenue is also a designated truck route, so not only do fronting residents need to be aware of the high speed and high-volume cars and truck that travel along Riggin Avenue but also be aware of large semi-trucks that may be using the arterial street. Below is an example of a frontage road in Fresno, CA:

Proposed Frontage Road

The proposed frontage road will physically separate the fronting residents between, Divisadero Street to Conyer Street, from Riggin Avenue using a concrete median curb. 

This separation will prevent the fronting residents from accessing Riggin Avenue directly.  The frontage road will be configured as a one-way street, allowing for a 10 foot travel lane and 7 feet for on street parking. This one-way configuration will require fronting residents to travel through the local neighborhood to access Riggin Avenue or to travel north.  Some on-street parking will be eliminated to incorporate emergency “fire bays,” these are necessary to allow fire trucks to access the fronting homes in the event of an emergency.

Benefits:
- Separation from high-speed roadway

- Arterial street has fewer interruptions allowing for the smoother movement of people and goods

- Fronting residential homes have access to a safer local street

Disadvantages:

- No longer have direct access to Riggin Avenue

- Longer travel times to travel north or to access Riggin Avenue

- Some on street parking will be eliminated

Questions?

For more information or questions about the proposed frontage road, please contact Diego Corvera, Senior Civil Engineer at (559) 713-4209 or [email protected].