Virginia Transportation Department Publishes Shenandoah Valley Railroad Corridor Use Assessment

The future of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad Corridor is coming into clearer focus after the Virginia Department of Transportation recently released its highly anticipated rail with trail assessment and completed a series of related public hearings.

A section of abandoned freight rail proposed to be part of a new biking and walking trail in the Shenandoah Valley. (Ben Cunningham/ Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance.)

In 2021, the agency completed its first study of Norfolk Southern’s 50-mile corridor, which local leaders and community organizers, who are part of the Friends of the Shenandoah Rail Trail, hope will lead to converting the rail corridor into a trail.

VDOT’s second corridor review comes after the Shenandoah Rail Corridor Coalition, a smaller group of community members, questioned the possibility of restoring the Manassas Gap railroad and constructing a trail alongside it.

The rail corridor, first established in the 1850s, runs from Front Royal to the town of Broadway in Rockingham County. As interest declined in freight service, the company began discontinuing sections of the corridor in 1989, moving operations to Norfolk Southern’s Crescent Corridor, which runs east.

Kate Wofford, executive director of the Alliance for Shenandoah Valley, said her group is “eager” to convert the corridor to a trail, a goal shared by their colleagues, the Friends of the Shenandoah Rail Trail.

“We wanted to get going with it years ago,” said Wofford. “So the sooner we can get started with this wonderful project, the sooner it will start bringing benefits to quality of life, local economic development, tourism (and) to the towns.”

Keven Walker, executive director for the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, part of the Shenandoah Rail Corridor Coalition, was asked for comment, but did not immediately respond.

The foundation is facing a lawsuit from one of its members over plans to restore the inactive Manassas Gap rail line in the Shenandoah Valley. The suit claims the foundation’s involvement strays far from its mission and threatens its federal tax-exempt status.

The assessment

Phase 1 of the study to assess the proposal for restoring the railroad and constructing an adjacent trail details projected costs, risks, and public feedback.

While the assessment did not provide a precise total cost to taxpayers, state lawmakers stipulated that “up to $35.0 million shall be allocated to the Shenandoah Valley Rail Trail for the purposes of land acquisition, initial planning, and site” development through the 2020-2022 state budget negotiation.

Stone Consulting and Stiffler McGraw, which the Shenandoah Rail Corridor group contracted, outlined several costs that would need to be identified. These include $66 million to repair the existing bridges, $4 million to $18 million to bring the rail line up to the FRA Class II standards, and funding to purchase easements and right of way and land acquisitions, given the narrow 33-foot setback from the centerline of the rail.

The study identified several unknown design factors and associated risks compared to the rail-to-trail concept, including the cantilevered trail structures on existing bridges, which would require retrofitting and may present maintenance and trail user safety concerns.

The agency also received feedback from county administrators and town managers from 12 localities along the corridor; all of them said their communities supported the rail-to-trail proposal.

The consensus among the leaders is that business use of the rail isn’t in high demand. The study stated, “no localities indicated a strong interest from the business community for freight rail service.”

However, the agency noted that two existing businesses, which were not identified in the study, have shown interest in using rail. Other industries, such as food processing, have indicated that rail does not fit their business model.

Several economic development offices have received inquiries from businesses that perceive the ability to increase their customer base from trail users, the study found.

What’s next

VDOT is currently in Phase 2 of the project to assess the corridor. The process will continue throughout the year with experts reviewing how water moves through the targeted area to inform flood prevention plans, assessing the train tracks and bridges and conducting in-person public meetings and an online public survey.

Phase 3 will conclude with a review of ownership and maintenance and a presentation of the cost estimate and assessment report, with public meetings to follow through the spring.

by Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury

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