Safety measures taken on Riverfront Trail

The Riverfront Trail offers beautiful scenery and recreational opportunities, but some folks using the trail have expressed concerns over safety.

Officials with Mesa County have responded by placing emergency markers on the side of the trail.

According to Greg Linza, parks manager for Mesa County, the markers will appear every quarter-mile along the trail system from Fruita to Palisade.

Each sign identifies the name of the particular section of trail, along with a road number corresponding to north and south running streets in the area.

Linza says it's easy to become disoriented, or injur yourself on the Riverfront Trail, and the emergency signs are necessary with the amount of visitors using it.

"In case of any type of emergency, whether you sprain an ankle, you see a mountain lion, you see a fire, you feel threatened, all you need to do is call 911, give them that post number and the trail name, it instantly pings on their [911 dispatch] screen to exactly where you're located", said Linza.

"It also shows where the closest access is for emergency services," added Linza.

On top of the safety features of the new signage, those who use the trail to exercise will now have a better idea of how far they've gone, or need to go, before they've burned enough calories.

For the past few years, a number of groups have collaborated efforts to connect Fruita to Palisade via the Riverfront Trail, officials say the signs will make the overall product that much better, and of course safer.

Mesa County is supporting the cost to install the first round of emergency markers. 

The county has partnered with the Colorado Riverfront Commission, the City of Grand Junction, the City of Fruita, the Town of Palisade and Colorado State Parks & Wildlife to make the new signage possible.

Each entity will be installing and maintaining the signs at their own cost after the first round of installs, according to Linza.