2008 CWL #5 W&OD

The W&OD is already a well known and much-beloved trail.

The W&OD takes its name from the railroad whose trains ran along the right-of-way from 1859 until 1968. The heyday of the W&OD came early in the 20th Century, when it provided service three times daily from Alexandria to Falls Church, Leesburg and Purcellville, with stops at such hamlets as Dunn Loring, Hunter Station and Paeonian Springs.

When the W&OD ceased operations in 1968, the Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO -- later Virginia Power, and now Dominion Power) bought the right-of-way for its electric power transmission lines. The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority tried for years to acquire the use of the railroad right-of-way. Agreement was finally reached in 1977 for NVRPA to purchase the right-of-way in stages. The purchase was completed in 1982.

The trail was built in stages from 1974 to 1988 extending 45 miles from Purcellville to Shirlington. But it doesn't yet use the entire ROW.

In Alexandria, the W&OD trails stops 2.4 miles from the true end of the ROW. Looking at the map, one can see that much of the ROW still remains and where it doesn't, another route can be found.

Starting at the Shirlington trail head the trail will connect to the Shirlington Underpass of the Four Mile Run trail some time this spring.

At some point the concrete plant across the street will be redeveloped and tehn the trail could be continued across that property to connect to the underpass behind the gas station (and that may be redeveloped too).Not that it is needed, but if I were the developer, I'd want people passing through, not around.

After passing through the underpass, the W&OD could cross the stream on its own bridge and cross to Tennessee Ave on the Charles Barret recreation center and elementary school property. The ROW at this point becomes a combination of parking lots and back yards. Rather than fight that (probably unwinable) fight it would be easier to make the trail on-road on Tennessee Avenue to Norris Place.

At Norris Place the trail would move to the edge of the business properties along Glebe and then cross Russell Road on a bridge utilizing the extant abutment (pictured above) where it would then drop down to an existing, block-long trail on the ROW.

At the west end of Sanborn Place, bike/ped access through the now-present fence would allow the trail to go back on-road on Sanborn Place. At this point the trail would negotiate the triangle made by Commonwealth Ave, Mt Vernon Ave and Herbert St. I show it squeezing between properties, but it could go on-road as well.

The last half mile passes along an existing trail through park land and then onto extant right of way used as a dog park and extended back yards (that are slowly being squatted on). At the end it could cross the Jefferson Davis Highway at grade or on a bridge (as the ROW is ~16 feet higher than the road this wouldn't be too difficult) where it would meet up with the existing sidepath. There was a trestle here until very recently when it was torn down as an eyesore.

On the west end of the W&OD, the existing rail trail stops in Purcellvelle - 7 miles short of it's original terminal in Bluemont. The power lines that the trail follows go 10 blocks farther. As I'm not as familar with the area out there it's hard to say how it could negotiate this, but - looking at arial and satellite photos - much of the ROW still seems to exist l. A trail extension could connect to the towns of Round Hill and Bluemont. Additionally, Virginia already has tentative plans to extend the W&OD to connect to the Appalachian Trail, which is less than two miles from Bluemont.

So again this ROW could have two separate additions.

1. A 2.5 mile extenstion from Shirlington to South Potomac Yard

2. A 7 mile extension from Purcelleville to Bluemont, with a foot trail extension to the AT.

Comments

[Dan]

I've seen the construction on the underpass, and it looks like the trail will run along the north bank of Four Mile Run from the end of the Shirlington Road bridge to just east of the Glebe Road bridge, where a ramp is almost complete bringing it up to link with the Four Mile Run trail

[Allen Muchnick]

I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but the W&OD Trail--or more precisely, the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority's W&OD Railroad Regional Park--will NEVER be "extended" along the former railroad right-of-way, either east of Shirlington or west of Purcellville.

These portions of the railroad corridor were abandoned far too long ago to be feasible for future trail development, and the NVRPA board and others have given up long ago.

Instead, local park agencies in Arlington and Loudoun Counties have long been developing their own trails, on distinctly different alignments, that will *connect* to either terminus of the W&OD Trail.

At the western end, Loudoun County and the Town of Round Hill have been (very slowly) developing a Purcellville-to-Round Hill Trail that would largely be a sidepath along Route 7 Business. See this document for more information:
[ http://www.loudoun.gov/controls/speerio/resources/RenderContent.aspx?data=ce978eedf0ba4fc094c2c1655b65cee3&optimize=100&tabid=312&fmpath=%2FBoard+Standing+Committees%2FTransportation-Land+Use%2F2008%2F07-28-08] . Evidently, this trail is being phased from west to east, so the W&OD connection is not imminent.

The Route 7 ByPass is the optimal alignment for a trail west of Purcellville, but that's not currently being pursued. The shoulders of this highway are currently useable by bicyclists.

[Allen Muchnick]

The complete URL I tried to include in my comment above is:

[http://www.loudoun.gov/controls/speerio/resources/RenderContent.aspx?data=ce978eedf0ba4fc094c2c1655b65cee3&optimize=100&tabid=312&fmpath=%2FBoard+Standing+Committees%2FTransportation-Land+Use%2F2008%2F07-28-08]

Alternatively, try
[http://tinyurl.com/4uzbfh]

[washcycle]

Bubble. Burst.