Reject NoVA Parks' Proposal to Widen The W&OD Trail in Arlington

 NoVA Parks' concept plan for widening its W&OD Trail in Bon Air and Bluemont Parks

 (Arlington County's closely parallel Four Mile Run Trail is not visible in this image)

Below is my May 24, 2020 public comment to the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) regarding a $5.6 million project funding application from the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (aka NoVA Parks) to widen two miles of the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail in western Arlington County VA (from N. Carlin Springs Rd to N. Roosevelt St) with 6 to 10 added feet of  pavement.

This segment of the 45-mile W&OD Trail, which runs from Shirlington to Purcellville in Northern Virginia, lies just a few feet away from Four Mile Run, a 9.4-mile long suburban/urban stream that flows into the Potomac River at the southern end of Reagan National Airport and thereby connects to the Chesapeake Bay.  For a variety of reasons, the Four Mile Run stream has become increasingly subject to recurrent and often violent flooding and storm water surges in recent years.

Currently, this segment of Four Mile Run has two closely parallel asphalt-paved paths, typically along opposite sides of this stream: the W&OD Trail (a fairly straight long-distance regional rail-trail, generally 10-12 feet wide, plus gravel shoulders) and the Four Mile Run Trail (a more meandering stream valley park trail with more local connections, generally 8 to 10 feet wide).  Thus, this segment of Four Mile Run is already fairly closely flanked with about 20 feet of impervious asphalt trail pavement.

To alleviate alleged "trail congestion" on the W&OD Trail in Arlington, NoVA Parks proposes approximately six feet of added pavement along a western one-mile segment along I-66, where the space between Four Mile Run and the I-66 noise wall is fairly narrow, and approximately 10 feet of added pavement (a 2-foot painted buffer and 8 feet marked for pedestrians) along a one-mile segment through two Arlington County parks (Bon Air and Bluemont) to the east of I-66.

Arlington's adopted Bicycle Transportation Plan and Open Space Master Plan both recommend unspecified trail widening and mode separation for this trail; however, no community-based planning study has been conducted to determine an optional package and configuration for conceptual trail improvements.  NoVA Parks' funding application does not seek any money to conduct any such study, which should have been a prerequisite for a construction-funding application.  Instead, it only seeks $650,000 for "design, engineering, and environmental work" and $5.0 million for the actual construction.

As background, I lived about one block away from this proposed project for more than two decades, and I also led the citizen campaign in the 1990s to finally build the last missing W&OD Trail segment through Arlington’s Bluemont Park.  

I'm certainly not deadset against any widening of the W&OD Trail along Four Mile Run; however, seeking construction funds before developing a community-based concept plan for this corridor is just plain wrong and will strongly prejudice project development, the evaluation of project alternatives, and the assessment of adverse environmental impacts.

=======================================================================
 

Dear Members of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA):

I urge the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority to reject NoVA Parks' funding application (NOV-002) to widen two miles of the W&OD Trail in western Arlington County for the following reasons:

1) This proposed project application is highly premature and very controversial.   Many capable and diverse Arlingtonians, who reside throughout the County, vehemently oppose this project, which they view as unnecessary, unlikely to yield substantial (or any) transportation (or recreational) benefits, and certain to have significant adverse environmental impacts that have not been properly evaluated, much less prudently avoided and adequately mitigated.

2) No community-based planning process, alternatives analysis, or environmental assessment has ever been conducted for this proposed project.  If funding is awarded, the project opponents will likely pressure the Arlington County Board and NoVA Parks to conduct those studies in a full, fair, and transparent manner.  Thus, NVTA can have no assurance that this project will ever be constructed, especially as described in the funding application.

 

3) The transportation benefits asserted in the project application are speculative and unsubstantiated, at best.   The project application assumes—without a shred of meaningful scientific evidence—that:  a) active transportation trips along the existing W&OD trail were ever depressed due to inadequate trail width and/or an absence of mode separation and b) constructing a new parallel pathway for pedestrians—without any physical barrier—would make the trail safer.

4) The project proposal is scoped much too narrowly and omits much-needed and important trail enhancements that could significantly increase active transportation trips to the East Falls Church Metrorail station; namely: 

• a) building a new grade-separated pedestrian and bicycle crossing of N. Sycamore St, to directly access the Metrorail station, 
• b) upgrading the existing trail lighting along the I-66 segment of the proposed project and extending that trail lighting east of I-66 to N. Carlin Springs Rd, 
• c) re-aligning the W&OD Trail to eliminate or reduce the unnecessary steep hill and dangerous sharp blind curve at the Brandymore Castle hill, and 
• d) making Arlington’s existing and closely parallel Four Mile Run Trail better suited as a separated facility for walking, jogging, and casual bicycling by i) re-paving flood-prone  trail segments, possibly with flood-resistant concrete, ii) constructing short missing trail segments (e.g., immediately west of Wilson Blvd), and installing wayfinding signs, which are sorely needed by visitors and new users.

5)  As noted by several others, this project proposal would have significant adverse environmental impacts on storm water runoff and natural habitat that are unlikely to be adequately mitigated.  Adding 6 to 10 feet of new imperious pavement to a two-mile stretch of the W&OD Trail that closely abuts the flood-prone Four Mile Run stream would seriously exacerbate the stream’s current storm water runoff and flooding problems and remove a rare linear urban meadow habitat.  Furthermore, storm water runoff and flooding would become even worse if any of the understory trees between the W&OD Trail and Four Mile Run are removed to install the widened trail.

6) This proposed project is largely or completely unnecessary because, as noted above, Arlington's existing Four Mile Run Trail could readily serve as a superior separated facility for pedestrians and casual bicyclists--at very low cost and with minimal adverse impacts--compared to the new adjacent pedestrian path proposed by NoVA Parks.

###