The I-66 Trail should be awesome. Right now, it is not.

VDOT continues to host meetings on the I-66 Outside the Beltway project, which will include 22 miles of parallel trail, tonight and tomorrow. While it is great that they're adding this trail, FABB notes quite accurately that it could be better. 

• For about 16 of the project’s 22 miles the current plan places the trail when it passes near homes on the highway side of the noise barrier/sound wall.
• In these locations the trail will only be separated from traffic by a two-feet tall roadway barrier topped by fencing.  
• In these locations exposure to noise, pollutants, buffeting from traffic, and weather (the path appears to lack natural cover from trees to protect against sun and wind) will affect the quality of the user experience on the trail. 
• The height of a separate grade for the trail, if any, has not determined. 
• The ​8-feet to 10-feet wide ​trail ​will be used as a service road for utility vehicles, and when these trucks are present, trail traffic will be constricted.
• There are only 11 access points to the trail through the sound barriers planned in select local neighborhoods, which may not be sufficient for safety and ease of use. 
• The plan relies on ambient lighting from the roadway to illuminate the trail. Public input on areas on where additional lighting might be appropriate would be helpful​ 

So if you go, remember you can support the trail in general, while also asking that these issues be addressed.

By the way, while reading on this, I found this old article about the opening of the Custis Trail. It seems when it opened, the 4-mile section we now think of as the Custis Trail along with the section of the W&OD Trail parallel to I-66 were all lumped together into the I-66 or Custis Trail.

Other interesting tidbits about the $2.5 million trail:

In 1982, WABA was "with 1,000 members, [was] the nation's largest bike commuter group."

The Virginia Department of Highways and Transportation promised to build the bike trail as one of the concessions for getting approval and funds for I-66 from the federal government, which had vetoed the state's original plans.

Next year there will be a third parallel paved trail as well, at least for a short distance, when the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority paves the adjacent Four Mile Run trail in Arlington. The present gravel trail is the eastern end of the park agency's 44-mile-long bike trail that roughly follows an old railway line between Alexandria and Purcellville in western Loudoun County.

"The highway may help traffic on local streets but not on crossover streets," he said. "But the trail--that's a major improvement."

Comments

[Steve O]

Officially the Custis Trail and W&OD run contiguously from Lee Hwy to the Custis turn-off. I do not know which one is on top of the other.

[Jeffb]

This plan is incedilby stupid.

[Joe F]

The trail is on the wrong side of the tall sound barrier. It seems like the trail is just an after thought.

By putting the trail on the same side as the highway they could easily decide to eliminate the trail and add another travel lane.

Maybe they are just trying to one up Maryland SHA and the mess they made out of the ICC trail?

[DE]

Yeah, if the trail were really meant to be permanent, it would be on the other side of the sound wall. It is quite possible they are planning for it to fail so that they can convert it to a car travel lane later. Even if they aren't planning for that, drivers will see an unused trail while they're stuck in traffic and will complain. And it will be largely unused--only those who don't have other choices will use it. No one is going to run or walk a dog on this thing, and cyclists will use another route if they can. This isn't going to have W&OD levels of traffic on it.

[washcycle]

My only thought as to why they want to put it on the inside is that it creates an additional way for police or emergency vehicles to reach a spot, but that's what the shoulder is for right?

I am more optimistic that it will get used, in part because it will create a quicker way to Metro stations. But I think one on the other side would get MORE use.