The Midweek Crew, Pathfinders for Greenways, have been helping with deferred maintenance on the one mile of greenway trail that passes near the Field of Dreams, the Board of Supervisors recently learned. The Board meeting was held on March 7, 2024 at the Craig County Courthouse.
Woody Lipps said in a written report that the group had spent 328 hours of volunteer time over eight days in an effort to upgrade the existing trail. The group donated $500 in fuel and equipment rental and removed brush, briars, hazard trees, and invasive species. They also picked up trash.
Lipps wrote that the work is not yet complete. “We still have the possibility of raising the trail elevation at the school to resolve the occasional problem with standing water,” a report in the supervisors’ packet states.
He also noted that, “One of our regular trail users stated, “The trail didn’t look this good when it first opened,” after the work was done.
The group is also assisting the state by removing brush, vines, and briars along sections of the rail bed where surveying is underway for the proposed Craig-Botetourt Scenic Trails (also known as rails-to-trails) project.
Regarding that project, Lipps wrote that the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) continues to focus on environmental and cultural resource work, along with detailed design work.
A public hearing on the rails to trails, “will be delayed by a few months,” the report from Lipps indicates. A draft environmental document and public hearing is now expected to take place sometime between September and December of this year, with the final design of the trail anticipated in the fall of 2025.
Lipps also presented a list of ideas and concerns obtained from public input. The concerns include items such as parking at trailhead locations, restroom facilities, trespassing and other law enforcement matters such as vandalism, and impact of the trail on emergency services.
Additional comments included concerns about cemeteries near the trail, the impact of the trail on existing farms and private road crossings, the number of times the trail would cross Rt. 615, mixed trail use (bicycles, horses, foot traffic, and vehicles), and maintenance, along with many other issues.
Some comments noted that the trail, “could be a core attraction for tourists in Craig County,” and that it could increase tax revenue for Craig County, particularly if the trail connects all the way into the Town of New Castle.
“The trail will be a great, safe, place for my kids to ride their bikes,” said one commenter in Lipps’ report.
The Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail is a proposed trail that would run through Botetourt and Craig counties. It was one of five trails identified by the General Assembly to receive support from an appropriation included in the 2022-2024 biennium budget.
This particular trail would encompass a long-abandoned 26-mile railroad right of way owned by the state that winds from New Castle in Craig County to Eagle Rock in Botetourt County. The new trail will generally parallel Craigs Creek along the former Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Craig Valley Branch rail bed and right of way between Last Lock Park near Eagle Rock in Botetourt County and Craig County High School near New Castle in Craig County. It will follow the rail bed’s alignment with a few relatively short exceptions.
The trail is anticipated to be a multiuse trail. It would be approximately 10-foot-wide and mostly gravel for walking, running, biking, and horseback riding. The trail would utilize a former rail bed and some low-volume secondary roads.
Approximately nine miles of the 26-mile corridor consist of VDOT maintained secondary roads. Along these low-volume secondary roads, VDOT on its website states that the state anticipates that the trail will exist in a “share the road” scenario as is the case today.
— AJF, Special to The New Castle Record
