NOVA Parks (the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority) will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail with a series of events and activities taking place through September.
The festivities will begin on Rails to Trails Conservancy’s “Celebrate Trails Day” on Saturday, April 27 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., with the first-ever community cleanup of the entire 45-mile trail.
The W&OD Trail is named for the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad that last traveled along its path, spreading commerce from the Alexandria seaport to the growing Northern Virginia communities to the west. The tracks connected and helped establish many hubs for economic development, which are now Arlington, Falls Church, Vienna, Reston, Herndon, Sterling, Leesburg and Purcellville.
When the railroad was abandoned in 1968, Dominion Power installed transmission lines along the corridor. Almost immediately, the regional park authority started studying the feasibility of converting the former railroad to a trail.
Nearly 50 years ago (in September 1974), the “first ride” was documented on the first stretch of the W&OD Trail – a 1.5-mile-long, 6-foot-wide asphalt path in the city of Falls Church. Through a succession of acquisitions over the following 14 years, NOVA Parks continued to develop sections, completing its vision of a continuous 45-mile trail from Arlington to Purcellville.
With 70 road intersections along the W&OD Trail, safety has been a primary concern. In recent years, an increasing number of intersections have been “‘grade-separated,” with vehicles and trail users on different levels. In 2021, a trail bridge was installed over Route 29 in Arlington, and later this year the new trail bridge over Wiehle Avenue in Reston will be open.
For information on upcoming events, see the Website at novaparks.com/WOD50.
