Construction on a long-stalled, $13 million project that would make recreation along the San Joaquin River more accessible to cars and foot traffic is scheduled to begin later this year, Fresno officials said Tuesday.
The river, a public space, is considered a potential economic driver for the Fresno area that could improve residents quality of life and draw more visitors. But many properties in the San Joaquin River Parkway, a collection of public green spaces planned to stretch from Friant Dam to Highway 99, remain either closed to the general public or difficult to access by vehicle or even on foot.
One access-enhancing project known as River West promises to one day add three new access points along the river just west of Highway 41 in Fresno, an area already popular with joggers and fisherman that has long needed improvements.
“River West Fresno … is scheduled to go to construction this fall,” said Kari Daniska, executive director of the San Joaquin River Conservancy, which is the public agency tasked with creating the river parkway.
She joined Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi, whose district runs along the river, and U.S. Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, who secured $2 million to help improve access to the river.
The 508-acre River West area has been public land since the conservancy bought it in 2003 and conceptual plans to improve access to the river there were drafted in 2004. But the plan was tied up in litigation from nearby river bluff homeowners and politics on the conservancy’s board.
Karbassi said the construction that will begin this year will cover the $13 million “core project,” which includes only one of the three planned vehicle access points.
He said construction on the core project could span 18 months.
A pair of dobermans cool off in the San Joaquin River on a warm day just to the north of Woodward Park in Fresno on Wednesday, April 20, 2025. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com What will first part of River West project include in Fresno?
River West’s core project includes extending the Lewis S. Eaton trail by 2.4 miles to the west of Highway 41 from the Woodward Park area.
The core project would also add a trailhead at Spano Park, which is on a river bluff near Palm and Nees avenues. It would also add a public access point at Perrin Avenue, which requires drivers to travel north on Highway 41 into Madera County, take the first exit and turn south on Cobb Ranch Boulevard to access it by vehicle.
Though the Perrin Avenue point is not as easily accessible by vehicle, the other two planned access points must be built concurrently, Karbassi said.
Homeowners in Fresno’s The Bluffs neighborhood, which overlooks the River West area, sued the conservancy in 2019 over the plan to construct one access point at Riverview Drive, a street in their community. In 2020, the homeowners agreed to the Riverview Drive access point as long as the conservancy also builds one at Palm and Nees avenues.
Those two access points are not yet fully funded, but Karbassi told The Bee successfully completing the River West’s core project could help the conservancy secure more money for future work.
What will $2M for San Joaquin River be used for?
Costa said the $2 million he secured, through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, will be used to extend the Eaton Trail but will also create entry points accessible to people with disabilities.
Daniska, the conservancy’s executive director, said the agency is also going to identify which other projects need more money.
She mentioned opening Camp Pashayan to the public is “one of the conservancy’s priorities.”
Camp Pashayan, about 40 acres on the river just east of Highway 99, has been used as an educational and recreational space for youth in recent years. It remains closed to the general public, though there are plans to connect it to the Milburn Overlook area via a trail.
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Erik is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism, where he helped launch an effort to better meet the news needs of Spanish-speaking immigrants. Before that, he served as editor-in-chief of his community college student newspaper, Riverside City College Viewpoints, where he covered the impacts of the Salton Sea’s decline on its adjacent farm worker communities in the Southern California desert. Erik’s work is supported through the California Local News Fellowship program.