Fall Line Trail development continues as Richmond residents raise concerns

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The long-awaited Fall Line Trail will likely break ground at Bryan Park in late August, according to advocates and developers. Once completed, the 43-mile path will extend from Hanover County to Petersburg, with 13 miles through Richmond.

“People can’t seem to contain their excitement about the Fall Line,” said Brantley Tyndall, Director of Bike Walk RVA. “We’ve gotten support from the federal government all the way down to the local level.”

While most of the community feedback seems to be positive, some residents of the neighborhoods around Bryan Park are raising concerns. Chuck Epes, the former president of Friends of Bryan Park, said paving a new route through this park for the Fall Line is “unnecessary.”

“This park has an extensive network, miles of paved roads that go through the park,” Epes said. “I would like personally for the city…. to publicly acknowledge and explain why they’re paving a path through the park when roads already exist.”

Epes said that, as a cyclist himself, he’s looking forward to it riding his bike there, but is concerned about the environmental impacts.

“For decades and decades, it’s a beautiful green oasis in the Northside of Richmond,” Epes said.
“[The new trail] would destroy some of that and threaten some of that.”

However, Tyndall said the planning team is committed to minimizing environmental impact, only affecting three trees.

“As advocates, we really care about trees too, because they provide life-giving shade on hot days like today,” Tyndall said. “They specifically routed [the trail] around the old growth and specimen trees. “

While Tyndall said the new path will keep bikers safer because it’s on it’s own trail, Epes worries it could put bikers in danger.

“Putting bicyclists at risk of being so close to hundreds of kids playing soccer, disc golf players, traffic and a playground, that it’s an unsafe plan,” Epes said.

Tyndall said the wide design of these roads will help keep bikers and pedestrians safe, while giving them a designated area away from cars.

“We’re expecting popular use so we, as advocates, like to think ‘Let’s build it wider at the beginning, instead of having to come back and widen it later on,'” Tyndall said. “So it’s currently planned to be 10 feet wide.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WRIC ABC 8News.