BWRVA Summer 2023 Update
By: Brantley Tyndall, Director of Bike Walk RVA
It has been a hot and heavy summer for bike/ped advocacy, and as the cooler temperatures start to peek over the horizon, let’s share a recap!
Bentonville Trip
Northwest Arkansas is an impressive model region for building multi-use trails, and you can feel the love!
Bike Walk RVA led a trip of 15 state and local officials to Northwest Arkansas in August. A major focus was to study the Razorback Greenway as a model for the Fall Line. The Razorback Greenway is a 40-mile paved shared use path that connects the four communities of Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, and Fayetteville. The trail creates a safe and seemless transportation and recreation experience that connects downtown placemaking and economic revitalization, schools, restaurants and retail, and outdoor recreation destinations that have put the region on the map. We had an amazing trip and look forward to the Fall Line achieving the same results!
Trailblazer
Our annual Fall Line Trailblazer was a success! Thanks for supporting our work to build this amazing trail in Central Virginia, joining us on hikes, and sporting your new Fall Line Trailblazer merchandise.
Smart Scale
The Fall Line was awarded $31 million in state Smart Scale funding for segments in Richmond and Petersburg! Exciting news, and this brings the total fundraising for the project to $252 million. However, there is an unfortunate effort to cut bike/ped funding from future Smart Scale, essentially removing it from the funding formula. We are tracking this closely and hope to stem this loss for the Fall Line and other bike/ped projects around the Commonwealth.
State Trails Office
The Virginia Department of Trails has been stood up and has begun its State Trail Plan process. The State Trails Plan Advisory Committee (separate from the State Trails Advisory Committee – STAC) has met twice and a public survey is expected soon. VDOT really wants to focus on reaching novice, inexperienced, and would-be trail users to learn how to be more accessible in trail development.
Bike Lane update:
The City of Richmond is working on new bike lane projects!
Franklin Street’s cycletrack is looking to be expanded west through VCU’s Monroe Park campus. More information and the city’s survey (open until 9/24) can be found here.
The City is also working on bike lanes on Carnation Street to continue to build out the bike/ped network in Richmond’s southside.
Henrico has been aggressively implementing sidewalks, the latest project on Hungary Rd.
Franklin Street protected bike lane expansion options below:
GROUNDBREAKING NEWS:
Thanks to Virginia Mercury and WTVR for covering the Fall Line in anticipation of the first groundbreaking of the Fall Line. After three years, the project is transitioning from existing primarily on paper (Ashland’s completed half mile section was really ahead of the curve!) to becoming a physical reality!
WTVR – Henrico County to soon begin construction on new multi-county trail
Virginia Mercury – Key part of the Fall Line Trail construction starts next month
