I've given up home on seeing the old Fort Belvoir Military Railroad turned into a rail trail. Not only because no one talks about it or has it in their plans, but also because they knocked down one of the railroad bridges (aka "Facility 1433") when they widened route 1 in 2014. You can see Facility 1433 below.
I mean they could still build a trail on the ROW from Newington to Accotink, using the last existing bridge over Cinder Bed Road, but someone would have to want to do that, and I don't know anyone who does.
In the meantime, we have the next best thing - historical markers! I stumbled across these recently, and I assume they're drawings of markers that have been or will be erected. It's nice, but a trail would've been better.
I should point out that when they widened Route 1 they also added a, dare I say it, sidepath and some terrifyingly narrow bike lanes wedged,at times, between high speed traffic lanes and turn lanes.
I used to work at Fort Belvoir and would commute more or less along the red path back and forth to my home in Springfield. For much of the red path, there is a side path from Old Backlick to Telegraph Road. South of DLA (the large semi-circular building and parking lot on the other side of "Pkwy") it would be nice to have a way of connecting the path to Route 1, but I would just ride on Old Backlick. Maybe since I left in 2016 they've improved it.
A path north of Telegraph to connect to Loisdale would be better than the patchwork of paths that I used to ride twice a day. Actually, what is really needed in that area is a better way to cross 95. It is a very bike-unfriendly mess. It's a real shame, because that part of the parkway is relatively new.
Posted by: happy rider | March 09, 2018 at 09:12 AM
Extending the Accontink Trail along Accontink Creek from Franconia Springfield Parkway to Route 1 would create a better crossing of I-95 and seems like a no-brainer.
Posted by: washcycle | March 09, 2018 at 10:42 AM