Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
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204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
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| Summerlin hopes trail will open in spring 2010 |
The red line is the Dick and Willie Rail Trail, and the blue line is the Uptown Spur. (Dan River Basin Association map) |
Thursday, September 24, 2009
By PAUL COLLINS - Bulletin Staff Writer
A county official hopes a planned 4.5-mile paved trail in Henry County and Martinsville will be ready to go to bid within 30 days.
The rails and cross ties have been removed, the project has been designed, and “we’re going through right-of-way certification” and getting other authorization needed from the Virginia Department of Transportation, Henry County Administrator Benny Summerlin said.
“If everything goes well,” he said, “we’re hopeful it (the trail) will be open in the spring of 2010.”
The trail is known as the Dick & Willie Passage. Dick & Willie was the nickname for the Danville and Western Railroad. The trail is part of the Smith River trail network, Summerlin said.
The project, which is expected to cost several hundred thousand dollars, is being funded with transportation enhancement grants (federal money that comes to Virginia for such things as walking trails), and there is a local “in-kind” match, which can be labor or services, Summerlin said.
The 10-foot-wide paved trail will be multiuse for such things as walking, bicycling and roller-skating but not horseback riding or motorized vehicles, he said.
The trail will have four trail heads, each with a parking area: one at Virginia Avenue in Collinsville near El Parral Mexican Restaurant, one at Liberty Street (that trail head will have rest room facilities), one at Doyle Street across from the former Martinsville-Henry County Rescue Squad building and one at the former site of Prillaman Chemical Co. The trail will end at a cul-de-sac overlooking Mulberry Creek, Summerlin said.
The trail will run from Virginia Avenue (near the intersection of U.S. 220 and Commonwealth Boulevard), go behind Liberty Fair Mall and cross the trestle at Liberty Street.
It will connect with the Uptown Spur trail near the former Martinsville-Henry County Rescue Squad building, then will go under the Church Street bridge, past the former Prillaman Chemical site and finally to the Mulberry Creek overlook.
Locally, in addition to Henry County, the city of Martinsville and the Dan River Basin Association are involved in the project.
In the future, officials hope the trail will be extended from the Mulberry Creek overlook to the Smith River Sports Complex, but that is not part of this project, Summerlin said. |
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