Wednesday’s ceremony drew a crowd of trail supporters and opponents of the route through Bryan Park, some of whom held up signs throughout the event. (Jonathan Spiers photos)
Work on the multijurisdictional Fall Line Trail is making its way into Richmond city limits, though not everyone on hand for a ceremonial groundbreaking was celebrating the multiuse path’s planned route.
City officials and supporters of the years-in-the-making trail converged on Bryan Park Wednesday to mark the start of construction of Richmond’s 13-mile portion of the 43-mile trail that’s planned to run between Ashland and Petersburg.
The event followed similar groundbreakings over the past year by Henrico and Hanover counties, which along with Richmond are among nine jurisdictions that make up the trail’s path and have provided support for the regional project.
With Wednesday’s groundbreaking, construction is officially underway in over half of those localities, according to Sports Backers, the nonprofit group that’s spearheading the project.
Bryan Park will be the trail’s northern access into Richmond and will serve as one of three trailheads in the city, along with Kanawha Plaza and a to-be-determined location on Commerce Road. The Bryan Park trailhead will provide parking, restrooms and access to park amenities, and the trail will be routed along the park’s main spine road via a new path beside the playground and soccer fields.
A map of the route through Bryan Park shows where the trail will veer off existing roads. (Image courtesy FallLineTrail.org)
It’s that route that’s the rub for a group calling themselves Citizens for a Responsible Fall Line Trail, several of whom were on hand for Wednesday’s ceremony and held signs saying “Don’t pave Bryan Park,” “Change the route” and “No more asphalt.”
Elizabeth Barrett, a nearby resident who is part of the group, said after the event that it doesn’t oppose the trail or the project, just the route. The group says the new path is unnecessary in light of available roads in the park and the route will remove trees and greenspace and run through an already highly trafficked area.
“It’s too close to the soccer fields. How are we going to protect kids from just running through there, bicyclists going through? There are hundreds of people on Saturday and Sunday when they have the soccer games,” Barrett said.
“There’s existing pavement already. Use it,” she said. “Don’t do something environmentally destructive, to a park of all places.”
Route opponents were among those in attendance for the groundbreaking.
Jon Lugbill, Sports Backers’ executive director, told BizSense that the route was selected, with input from city parks staff, specifically for its proximity to those amenities. He said an earlier route considered would have run through an unused portion of the park, but he said safety and visibility concerns led Richmond’s Parks & Recreation Department to favor the current route.
“I think their idea was that the Fall Line Trail would serve as a way for people to bike and walk to the park and take advantage of the park amenities – all of them, not just the trail in the back,” Lugbill said.
Jon Lugbill
“It was chosen to go by a bathroom to service the trailhead,” he added. “It was chosen to go by a playground for the people who want to bike, walk or run to a playground with their kids. It was chosen to go near the soccer fields for people that didn’t have to drive there. It was chosen to go near the parking lot so that people could park and then access the trail.”
Regarding concerns over congestion between trail and park users, particularly visitors needing to cross the trail to access the fields and parking, Lugbill likened the scenario to Richmond’s Potterfield bridge crossing the James River downtown.
“When you’re biking, you’ve got to be aware of people. You bike slower. I think that is what might happen for a stretch of the trail in Bryan Park, and to us, that’s a good thing,” he said. “Potterfield is a bad experience if you’re trying to go fast, but it’s a wonderful bridge for people to bike on and the views are spectacular and it’s worth the conflict that exists with pedestrians.”
The full route of the 43-mile trail.
After Wednesday’s ceremony, Richmond public works staff led a walk of the route to discuss its rationale and impacts. While the route will require new construction for the trail, officials maintained that environmental impacts to the park would be minimal.
Among those who gave remarks were Richmond Parks & Recreation Director Chris Frelke, who reiterated concerns about safety and accessibility.
“A lot of individuals might not feel safe going into certain areas of this park, because of historical things that have happened,” he said. “When we create trails like this, we need to put it in prominent areas so people feel safe as they use these different amenities within the park. We want everyone to feel welcomed in the park; we want everyone to feel safe.”
Mayor Levar Stoney said the trail would not only improve access but also be a catalyst for economic development.
“Where some segments of the Fall Line Trail will utilize existing bike lanes, much of the trail will feature new construction and enhancements meant to make our streets friendlier for families and tourists as they bike and stroll through our city,” Stoney said.
“Trails like this in cities like Indianapolis and Atlanta have provided economic development growth as well. This will not just simply traverse through Bryan Park but it will go through downtown Richmond, it will go through Southside as well, and along this trail you will see an amazing amount of growth,” he said. “Yes, this is a parks and transportation project, but this is a community project.”
Officials tossed the dirt to mark the start of construction of the Bryan Park trailhead.
A timeline for the Bryan Park trailhead and the city’s portion of the trail was not provided Wednesday. The entire 43-mile trail is targeted for completion by 2034, though sections are expected to be completed sooner, including a 13-mile stretch from Richmond to Ashland in the next few years.
The Bryan Park segment will connect with another trailhead planned at 4921 Lakeside Ave., a former bank building that Henrico purchased last year and is set to be Sports Backers’ new HQ. Internal demolition for that project got underway this week, and Lugbill said the group expects to move there in January.
Henrico also has completed initial portions of its part of the trail and has installed a signalized crossing on Lakeside Avenue between the Sports Backers building and Bryan Park.
The Central Virginia Transportation Authority is the main funder of the overall Fall Line project, which is anticipated to cost more than $400 million.
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