The Fairfax County Parkway Trail parallels Fairfax County Parkway/State Route 286 on its route across Fairfax County, Virginia. While the paved trail varies in width and condition, most of the trail is usable for walking, biking and inline skating. The trail connects to many other community trails and side paths along its route, as well as the popular W&OD Trail near Reston and the Cross County Trail in West Springfield.
The southernmost segment from Newington to Fort Belvoir is disconnected from the bulk of the pathway, and there is another gap in the trail near Fairfax Station. The latter can be bridged by using the Ox Road Sidepath and another short path along Burke Centre Parkway.
You can access the Fairfax County Parkway Trail wherever the road itself intersects another road. There are no official parking areas for the trail.
Signs for riders to take caution or maybe even to STOP should be posted at the crosswalk located at Pinecrest Road overpass. Riders are can only see one direction depending on what way they are riding due to sound barriers. On coming traffic from East will only see them when they emerge from sound barriers.
Love this trail and would like to see more roads with a parallel trail beside it at a safe distance from traffic.
Please Please Please, complete the Fairfax County Parkway trail by installing the trail north of Route 7 to Grandview Place. This is a very small section that is left without a path and forces cyclist and pedestrians into traffic.
Thanks
this trail was designed by car drivers for car drivers...does ANYONE read or study the built environment? the car culture?...
the trail itself is either simply LOUSY, or just plain bad. it's not even CLOSE to being an ASSHTO approved trail.
the scenery -- and car noise level! -- has to be experienced to be believed! it is as worthless as the suburban landscape it passes through...
oh, and for you safety, during the winter they plow the snow high at each intersection so as to block bike passage! and there have been numerous cuts to the trail (which was already bad) by developers, who of course dont ride bikes and then repave...making a repair nowhere even close to what the trail originally felt like. since the county does ZERO enforcement of the county code, developers can do whatever they like...
this is what passes for bike infrastructure in the USA...
Connection between RT 123 and RT 286 has been made with the recent addition of crosswalk at Burke Centre Parkway and Rt 123 intersection. The "gap" on the map can now be connected
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