Today's utility corridor runs 30 miles along the south side of Fairfax County from Lorton all the way to Middleburg in Loudoun County, passing briefly through Fauquier County. Just outside of Middleburg the power lines split, going north and south along Wancopin Creek, but the corridor is too thin and goes over too much farmland to be useful. On the east end, the corridor connects with what will be #3 on this list and in between it connects to six other corridors including #12, #11 and #5 on this list. Where it connects with #12 in Centreville, it forms part of the Cub Run Trail System, which is built on numerous utility corridors. And like so many other corridors on the list, it too intersects the future I-66 Trail. This corridor is long and straight, and because of where it is, is more feasible than most of the ones on this list.
Though it's far from the denser parts of the area, that's what makes this such a great opportunity. There is almost nothing else built on it. No one has started to fence it in as part of their yards. There is unlikely to be much conflict. And there aren't that many barriers. There are streams and roads to traverse for sure, but the only two big ones are I-66 and US-29. But getting past I-66 would be a snap, because of the I-66 trail. That trail will connect the north side of this corridor to Compton Road where the I-66 Trail will pass under I-66 and then corridor #12 could connect the south segment of this corridor the short distance to to that crossing.
[Corridor #12 is in red, and the I-66/Cub Run trail is in yellow]
The corridor remains clear all the way into Loudoun up to the James Madison Highway in Blue Ridge, and then it starts to run over farm land, making any further extension difficult. But that still leaves 24 out of 30 miles available.
The Fairfax County Bike plan doesn't show any bike facilities in the area of this corridor, but the area is starting to fill in with sprawl. Now might be the time for the county to start staking a claim to a trail here.
The only bit of bad luck is that though it intersects with a VRE rail line (another barrier to be crossed), it is right in-between two far away stations. If only there were a station in Clifton.
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