A plan to connect Waynesboro to the Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel is gaining momentum after the city completed the first steps toward utilizing $950,000 in grant funds.
When completed, the Rockfish Gateway Trail project will connect Sunset Park on East Main Street to the more than 4,000-foot-long Nelson County tunnel that runs through Afton Mountain. The proposed trail would then give hikers and cyclists additional opportunities to connect to the Shenandoah National Park and Appalachian Trail.
The city had looked initially to connect its South River Greenway trail to the tunnel but has redirected its efforts instead to connect its newest park to the tunnel.
There is a similar initiative on the other side of the mountain to build Three Notched Trail, a shared-used path from Charlottesville to Ivy, Crozet, and ultimately to the tunnel in Afton.
The Three Notched Trail is part of a larger mountain-to-sea 200-mile trail project with a goal to connect the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay.
Representatives on both sides of the mountain have worked together throughout the visioning and funding application process although the two sides ultimately locked in different funding sources.
It’s now a race to see which side of the mountain will complete its connection to the tunnel first.
“Though they’re two sides of the mountain and they’re called different things, the ultimate goal is to make the connection through the mountain, through the Crozet tunnel, so it’s a race to see who will get there first,” Waynesboro Parks and Recreation Director Dwayne Jones told AFP on Thursday. “How amazing would it be to hike from Waynesboro through the tunnel and all the way to Albemarle County?”
Different roads: Funding the paths to the Crozet tunnel
Albemarle County was awarded a U.S. Department of Transportation RAISE (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) federal grant in 2022 for more than $2 million to conduct a feasibility study for the shared path and create construction documents. The Three Notched Trail has unique challenges with paths along Route 151 and up Afton Mountain.
In contrast, Waynesboro has applied three times for the same federal RAISE grant for its trail project, but all three applications were unsuccessful, according to City Planner Alisande Tombarge.
The application submitted in February 2023 included a letter of support from Waynesboro City Council members addressed to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The letter of support for the project included the names of City Council members including Vice Mayor Jim Wood. Wood, to the city’s detriment, made national headlines a few days after the application was submitted, for making a homophobic reference to Buttigieg on Facebook. The denial of the application during this round seemed to be a forgone conclusion as a result of the vice mayor’s slur and the fallout that included a call for Woods’ resignation.
The planning department in Waynesboro has also applied for state transportation funding through the SMARTScale program for the trail project but has not been successful to date, Tombarge said.
Waynesboro pivots in another direction
While the city pursued funding to connect the South River Greenway to the Crozet tunnel, a parallel effort was also under way to use Sunset Park as the starting point of the path instead of the Greenway.
In January 2023, Waynesboro was successful receiving U.S. Department of Transportation funds through the Eastern Federal Lands Program, known as EFLAP, which focuses on projects connected to the National Park Service.
The revised plan proposed starting at Sunset Park and connecting to the tunnel but extended the trail paths to also offer options to connect to the AT and SNP.
It’s taken 18 months or more to get through the rigorous process, Jones said, and to get the EFLAP grant agreement in place to move forward with planning.
Today, efforts are ramping up, and the city has had its initial site visit and is working with Rinker Design Associates, or RDA, the lead engineering consultant for Waynesboro, on a preliminary trail design, Jones said. The city is also working to set up a meeting with the National Park Service to discuss the project.
He is optimistic that the planning grant will eventually translate to a construction grant once “all of the dots are connected,” because he said, the goal with any planning grant is to usually see the project through to construction and completion.
“It like a lot of grants that once they see that you’re serious, and once they see that you have plans, and it’s not just sort of a pie in the sky, then your next round is what they call shovel ready,” he said.
“We’re in the queue, that’s what I like to say. These are projects that are not intended for, let’s do a pretty plan and put it on the shelf, this type of funding is intended to see it to the finish line.”
Rockfish Gateway Trail
The estimated cost
The accessible bike and pedestrian trail starting at Sunset Park in Waynesboro would be approximately three and a half miles in length and could cost up to $15 million to construct.
While the city owns most of the land that will be part of the trail system, the hefty price tag is because two tunnels will be required. One of the tunnels will have to be built under an active rail line.
“Two tunnels, as you can imagine, is quite expensive but doable,” Jones said.
In Virginia, he points to Liberty University with five tunnels and James Madison University with a tunnel under the interstate as examples that it can be done. He also pointed out that in Raleigh, N.C., they have a greenway that crosses six lanes over their beltway.
In addition to railroad crossings, there are steep terrains in the trail’s proposed path, and the city will have to get a couple of easements once they are further along in the planning process.
The project phases
The project is broken down into four phases. The first phase was funded through the EFLAP grant and is in process now. Jones estimates this phase will likely take another 18 months.
- Phase one: Preliminary design and engineering, right-of-way acquisition, NEPA document of the Rockfish Gateway Trail
- Phase two: Construction engineering and construction of trail section from SNP to Crozet tunnel western portal trailhead
- Phase three: Construction engineering and construction of trail section from Crozet tunnel to Sunset Park
- Phase four: Construction engineering and construction of spur trail from SNP to the AT
The vision
If built as the city envisions it, the Rockfish Gateway Trail would pass underneath the C&O Railroad tracks via a short tunnel and would connect businesses along the city’s eastern corridor. After a short scenic hike, the trail would intersect with the Crozet Tunnel greenway trail.
At the tunnel’s western trailhead, hikers could then cross U.S. 250 at the trailhead and meander through the trails around the Grey Pine Lodge, connecting to the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park near the Rockfish Gap ranger station.
A quick spur trail would be used to then connect the path to the Appalachian Trail.
Jones believes the Rockfish Gateway Trail will be enjoyed by local residents and be a draw for visitors to Waynesboro.
Stats from 2024 seem to back up the demand for outdoor activities:
- The Crozet Tunnel had 74,115 visitors
- Sunset Park has had more than 50,000 vehicles visit since its opening in June
- Combined, there were more than 260,000 cars in Coyner Springs, North and Ridgeview parks
- The South River Greenway was traversed by 84,463 runners, walkers and cyclists
- Park shelters hosted 500+ private parties and events
- South River Preserve complete with nearly 3,000 trees in an area that was once a parking lot
“Outdoor recreation is an economic generator. It’s been my belief since I’ve been here for 30 years that we’re two miles from where the Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway meet, and Shenandoah National Park is one of the most visited national parks in the country … it’s too obvious, but somehow, we’ve not been able to be successful at connecting those dots,” Jones said.
“Hopefully, we look back in 10 years and go, ‘wow, what a great decision.’”
He points to the popularity of the Crozet tunnel as a model for the potential success of the Rockfish Gateway Trail.
“We’ve got all these resources literally at our doorstep, and we haven’t quite solved the nugget of how to put down the right doormat. But we’re so close, and we’ve got the momentum and the pieces together.”
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For additional coverage, search “Crozet tunnel” or “Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel” on Augusta Free Press.
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Crystal Graham
