Holmes Run Trail work progressing well, detour may end ahead of schedule

This is one of those stories that fell through the cracks a bit, but last March Alexandria closed a section of the Holmes Run Trail to allow the city to replace a fair weather crossing with a new
pedestrian and bicycle bridge and to allow for some restoration and stabilization of the stream.

This restoration will also ensure the base flood elevation is not increased as a result of the construction of the new pedestrian bridge. 

Work was expected to last for 12 months and there was a high-water detour defined.

More on the project can be found here. 

This past July the city announced that "The Holmes Run Bike Trail project is progressing. Installation of the panels for the first retaining wall started on Monday July 10th. The construction of the second retaining wall along with the excavation for the bridge pier and abutments will begin the first of August. Early winter is the anticipated timeframe for the installation of the bridge superstructure."

The main motivation for removing the high-water crossing was that during highwater events the trail would often be rendered impassable, which should be obvious from the design of the existing crossing.

I don't have a rendering of the new bridge, but back in 2015, this is what they showed as the "potential bridge style" and below that is an image from the construction plans.

I'm sure this will be a welcome improvement for all regular trail users. 

Comments

[John Flack]

Hooray! I live near there, and have been detouring to the Pickett street bridge. And Google Maps bike directions often send me to western locations via the tunnel under I395 which is currently blocked by the project.

[Gloria Norris]

Hey - who is paying for this bridge? Taxpayer $$s? They have been working on it for two years, or plus. Seems all those $$s could be more beneficial used elsewhere - I have walked across that dry bed creek for years. Projets in Alexendria never seem to end.

[washcycle]

Gloria, they started construction 13 month ago, but I bet the city doesn't pay more if the construction team takes too long - in fact I suspect the opposite.

I think the benefits are better stream health and a bridge that is open every day of the year - which is a good thing to have if you bike commute. I don't know how much it costs, but its easy to argue that any money spent on one thing could be better spent on another, since everyone has different values.

[ACyclistInThePortCIty]

It is also about having an ADA compliant crossing - the old crossing was far from ADA compliant.

[John C Flack]

They started this work in March, 2017. Now we are seeing signs that they are nearly finished with the bridge part of the project. The bridge is up, and the ramp to the tunnel under I395 looks close to complete. I don't know if the bridge will open while they finish part 2, which is restoration of Holmes Run to a more natural state. The high water in some of the Spring's major rain events probably slowed them down a bit.