If you’re like us then you’re excited for the Fall Line Trail. The upcoming multi-use trail aims to be a north/south companion to the Capital Trail, which runs from Richmond to Jamestown. When complete, it will wind 43 miles on its way through seven Virginia localities — Ashland, Hanover, Henrico, Richmond, Chesterfield, Colonial Heights, and Petersburg.
This development is one of several outdoor transportation networks being built in Central Virginia. Several sections of the final path already exist as individual, shorter trails that the Fall Line Trail intends to connect. These include Ashland Trolley Line Trail, Chester Linear Park, several miles of Richmond’s protected bike lanes, and Chesterfield’s Northern Jefferson Davis Special Area Plan.
Richmond will comprise 13 miles of the trail’s planned course, with Chesterfield taking another 19, Henrico containing 7.5, and Hanover responsible for 4.8 miles.
Henrico broke ground on its first section of the Fall Line Trail on Oct. 18. This first stretch will begin at Spring Park in the Lakeside area, running a quarter of a mile long and 12 ft wide. It will be the first of eight sections passing through Henrico.
At the Spring Park section’s groundbreaking, Henrico Supervisor Frank Thornton expressed excitement for the project to get underway, citing the trail’s “seemingly limitless economic and quality-of-life benefits.”
Henrico is striving to complete its sections of the trail in the next five years. Richmond says it hopes to begin construction on the city’s first section sometime between now and 2025. The full Fall Line Trail should be complete around 2035.
