THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 21, 1994 TAG: 9412200139
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 15 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SERIES: OUTDOORS PLAN
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
If Pat Orr had her way, she would saddle up one of her three horses and head out for an uninterrupted trail ride across town.
Starting from her leased land near Oceana, Orr would steer toward the Oceana Stable trail, trot down Dam Neck Road and then, cross at Holland and Dam Neck to ride up to Princess Anne Park, catching a 6.2-mile multi-use trail where she and her horse would share a 12-foot-wide stretch of pathway with bikers, joggers and walkers.
``I'd love that ride,'' said Orr, an environmental science teacher at Green Run High School and local equestrian enthusiast. ``Education and understanding by everyone who uses the trail is what multi-use and sharing is all about.''
In two years, Orr might be able to make that ride.
As part of the city's Outdoors Plan, a system of about 100 miles of multi-use trails will be developed for use by anyone on a non-motorized vehicle.
Trails will be incorporated into the overall Outdoors Plan by using them to connect proposed city parks, waterways and historical sites. Many existing sites, mostly bicycle pathways, will be incorporated into the trails network.
Of the city's 14 priority projects, nine include trails - two historical and cultural sites with trails, five water access points with trails and two district parks with trails.
Three trail projects - the Pungo Park Connector Trail, Ocean Walk and Seashore State Park Trail - are priority projects and will be constructed first. Other trails will follow soon after.
Section One of the Pungo Park Connector Trail is a 6.2-mile pathway that will begin at Princess Anne and Landstown roads and continue to the Courthouse. Section Two will eventually create a greenways system through West Neck Creek Park to the Munden Point Park area in Pungo.
Construction on the first section is scheduled to start sometime within the next two years, said J. Barry Frankenfield, a city parks planner.
The funding and designs have already been completed for the trail's construction up to the Courthouse. The estimated cost of Section One of the project is $950,000. An Inter-modal Surface Transportation Enhancement Act grant contributed $515,000 to the project with the remainder coming from a Virginia Department of Environmental Quality grant.
The Ocean Walk trail will begin at the Center for the Arts and progress through the Beach Garden Park to 30th Street and then to the Oceanfront.
Parts of the Seashore State Park Trail are already in existence. This trail will lead from Fort Story to Seashore State Park to the Lesner Bridge all the way west to Hampton Boulevard in Norfolk.
Multiple use trails are designed to minimize maintenance costs and maximize pathway use. Each proposed trail consists of two parallel trails - one made of asphalt for pedestrians and bicyclists and one of a natural surface for hikers and equestrian riders. Natural buffers, like vegetation, will be used to separate the two interest groups.
``There are loads and loads of kids and horses out there,'' said Orr, a 4-H volunteer, a member of the National Southeastern Association of Trailriders and a member of the Greenways, Trails and Bikeways Committee on the Outdoors Plan. ``If you have nice multiple-use trails that are off the highway, at least that's one thing you don't have to worry about - speeding vehicles. I feel this (the plan) is certainly quite a few steps forward.'' MEMO: [ALSO SEE: Related stories ran in The Beacon on pages 10, 11, 12, 13,
14, and 16 for this date.]
ILLUSTRATION: TRAILS
The goal of the trails network is to provide a safe, coordinated
network of pathways to multiple users for recreational,
transportation and utilitarian purposes. These pathways will be
designed to link the city's major historical, educational, cultural
and economical centers and make them accessible to everyone in the
city. Trail users are defined as bicyclists, equestrian riders,
joggers and hikers.
KEYWORDS: OUTDOORS PLAN by CNB