Four Mile Run Trail

Not to be confused with Four Mile Trail.

The Four Mile Run Trail is a 7-mile long, paved shared use path in Arlington County, Virginia. It runs along Four Mile Run from Benjamin Banneker Park in Falls Church^[1][2] to the Mount Vernon Trail near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, where Four Mile Run empties into the Potomac River. The trail runs roughly parallel to parts of the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Trail as it follows Four Mile Run, sometimes on the other side of the stream.^[3]

Map of the trail (omitting its northwesternmost 0.5 miles)

Joggers on the Four Mile Run trail, 2019

History

The trail opened on September 4, 1967 as a four-mile, unpaved trail between Roosevelt Street and the Columbia Pike.^[4] In 1966, Arlington County was one of 12 urban areas to receive a grant from the Department of the Interior as a demonstration of urban trails, the first such grants ever given.^[5] The Four Mile Run Trail was the first of these trails built, making it the nation's first shared use path built with federal funds. Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall had created the program in hopes that it would build support for trails legislation he was supporting. That legislation later became the National Trail System Act of 1968. The trail was built adjacent to an existing hiking trail and the still extant W&OD railroad tracks.^[6]

In the following years, the trail was paved and expanded. By mid-1968, the trail had been extended south to Walter Reed Drive, though the bike trail ended at Columbia Pike, and north to the Fairfax County line.^[7] By 1971, most sections of the trail were paved, but it still had many low-water crossings and cinder-surfaced sections.^[8] By 1976, it was extended to Shirlington.^[9][10] At Shirlington, it crossed I-95 on the Shirlington Overpass which had been opened in 1972. By 1977 it was extended west of Broad Street in Falls Church (along the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) right-of-way). In 1980, as part of the construction of seven bridges across Four Mile Run - for Route 1, the Potomac Yard railroad, the main rail line and the George Washington Parkway - the Army Corps of Engineers built a section of the Four Mile Run Trail beneath the bridges from Route 1 to the Mount Vernon Trail. Later that spring, the gap between the new section and I-95 was opened.^[11]

In 1981-82, the section of trail near Brandymore Castle in Arlington was rebuilt as the W&OD Trail in conjunction with the construction of I-66 and the western section of the trail, then built on the W&OD right-of-way, became the W&OD Trail. This moved the western terminus of the Four Mile Run Trail from Falls Church to a point just east of where Four Mile Run emerges from under I-66 in Arlington County.

In 2009, a trail extension was completed near Shirlington that not only linked the end of the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Trail with the Four Mile Run Trail, but also allowed trail users to pass under the Shirley Highway (Interstate 395) and W. Glebe Road without having to ride on-street in Shirlington and Alexandria.^[12][13] An underpass was originally to be built as part of the 1970's Four Mile Run project that built the I-95 to Mount Vernon Trail section, but it was not built at that time.^[14][15]

Notes and references

1. "W&OD and FMR Trails in Banneker Park to be improved, then rerouted". TheWashCycle. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
2. "Benjamin Banneker Park Framework Plan & Design Guidelines Report" (PDF). Arlington County. 2017-12-16. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-08-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
3. "Arlington County Bike Map: 2019" (PDF). BikeArlington. Arlington County government. May 2019. (PDF) from the original on January 6, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
4. "Arlington's Bicycle Trail Dedication". Retrieved 25 June 2020.
5. "Arlington to Get Bicycle Trail". The Evening Star. 24 July 1966.
6. Cranor, David. "Project will widen section of Four Mile Run to 12 feet, eventually remove fence". The Washcycle. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
7. "Arlington's Major Trail is Along Four Mile Run". Northern Virginia Sun. 16 August 1968. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
8. "Around the Town". Washington Evening Star. May 16, 1971.
9. "80 Miles of Bikeway Approved for Arlington". Northern Virginia Sun. May 23, 1974. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
10. "Bike-N-Hike". Northern Virginia Sun. 29 October 1976. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
11. Hodge, Paul (24 January 1980). "Seven Bridges Span Four Mile Run Flood-Control Project and Bicycle Trail". The Washington Post.
12. . News Release. Arlington, Virginia: Arlington County Government. 2007-10-20. Archived from the original on 2012-02-14. Retrieved 2011-07-12.
13. . News Release. Arlington, Virginia: Arlington County Government. 2009-05-26. Archived from the original on 2009-05-29. Retrieved 2011-07-12.
14. Hodge, Paul (22 December 1977). "Hiking and Biking on the 'Virginia Creeper'". The Washington Post.
15. Crosby, Thomas (12 May 1977). "....and You Can Join the Pedal Parade". The Evening Star.

External links

• "Four Mile Run Park". Arlington, Virginia: Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation. 2013-12-04. Retrieved 2014-03-31.

38°50′42″N 77°05′43″W / 38.8451247°N 77.0951816°W / 38.8451247; -77.0951816