Unlike in some communities, there is no one entity responsible for building and maintaining trails in the Charlottesville area.
The Rivanna Trails Foundation has a mission to “promote, create, and protect pathways, trails, and greenways in the Rivanna River Watershed that connect communities and people to one another and nature,” but it is a volunteer organization.
The group raised less than $100,000 in 2023, according to filings with the Internal Revenue Service. The documents state that officers spend around two hours a week on behalf of the RTF.
Most of the planning work is now done by staff at one of the many local or regional governments in the area, and each staff member is paid for by a budget approved by elected officials.
The Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Department describes itself as having “nearly six miles of paved trails and about 30 miles of nature trails.”
A master plan currently underway calls for a lot of expansions. Natural trails and paved trails were the first and third highest-ranked priorities, according to a survey conducted to inform the master plan. The draft calls for more interconnectivity between city parks, and points to a finding that there are 7,311 households that do not feel they have enough paved trails. This is extrapolated from a survey that had 392 responses.
A consultant is putting together a new master plan for the City of Charlottesville that calls for expanding the network. Specific ideas for new trail connections include putting one on top of the sewer line between Fifth Street and Jordan Park, acquiring disused rail corridors, and an off-street access point to the Ragged Mountain Natural Area.
The draft plan notes that 84 percent of city residents live within a 10-minute walk to a park. The national median for cities is 55 percent. City Council is expected to take up the plan in March.
Albemarle County’s draft Comprehensive Plan calls for more parks to increase the number of development-area residents that live within 15 minutes of a public parkway or a greenway. That’s defined as any “linear natural open space” open to the public.
Albemarle County’s capital improvement budget for the current fiscal year includes $635,000 to bring a trailhead at Woolen Mills up to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
In 2019, Albemarle planning staff updated a list of transportation priorities in the county. There are 89 separate projects with several greenways and shared-use paths. The overall Three Notched Trail project is not listed as a single project (see story on page 18). This list was meant to have been updated last year to reflect new priorities, but that has not yet occurred.
Albemarle County has trails and greenways across multiple parks, most of which are in the designated rural area. An exception is Humphris Park, which has 1.6 miles of paved trail.
One of the biggest infrastructure projects underway at the moment is at Biscuit Run Park, a space that finally opened to the public in December, with 8.5 miles of maintained trails.
Another player is the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which built the Saunders-Monticello Trail and also offers the Hartman Orchard and Mountain Loop.
In addition, the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission provides some support, such as coordination on grants. For instance, the government entity has taken the lead on trying to secure funding for a pedestrian bridge that would cross the Rivanna River at Woolen Mills. The TJPDC is also coordinating a project called the Moores Creek Trail and Trailhead Park.
The University of Virginia offers land on Observatory Hill for mountain biking and developed a map in collaboration with the Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club, the Rivanna Trails Foundation, and other stakeholders.
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation added the four-mile Saunders-Monticello Trail to the list of local pathways in 2000. Photo via Skyclad Aerial.
