Arlington Memorial Trail
StatusIn Design
FHWA EFLHD has conducted evaluation of conceptual alignment options, and is now in a preliminary design stage. This stage consists of project alternatives analyses pursuant to federal NEPA and NHPA (Section 106) requirements. Preparations for public engagement are underway and are being led by EFLHD and its consultant team.
About the Project
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division (EFLHD), under agreements with Arlington County, VDOT, and the Department of the Army, is designing a new, multiuse trail facility extending from the Columbia Pike realignment project in association with the federal ANC Defense Access Road and Southern Expansion projects.
Connectivity for bike-ped users across this part of the County is complicated by the combined barrier effects of secured federal facilities such as Arlington National Cemetery, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, and the Pentagon Reservation; as well as a high-volume roadway network that includes Arlington Boulevard (US 50), Washington Boulevard (Route 27), Richmond Highway (VA-110), I-395, and George Washington Memorial Parkway.
Because of the complexity of the project and study area, this project is being led by EFLHD and their consultant team, with support from Arlington County transportation staff.
Visit the EFLHD Project Page
Project Basis
The Arlington Memorial Trail seeks to close a crucial “missing link” in the County’s Master Transportation Plan, providing a key, north-south bike-ped route past many of these barriers, and links the major County corridors of Rosslyn-Ballston, Crystal City/Pentagon City, and Columbia Pike with Memorial Bridge and the monumental cores of both Arlington County and the District of Columbia.
Planning guidance for the Arlington Memorial Trail is provided by the County Board’s adopted comprehensive planning efforts to reconnect neighborhoods and communities historically divided by these infrastructural barriers. To this end, in coordination with the adopted Pentagon City Sector Plan, the proposed Crystal City Bike Network, and in support of both the Columbia Pike Multimodal and Army Navy Drive Complete Street and related projects, the ANC Wall Trail project seeks to extend a new level of safe, convenient connectivity to the neighborhoods of Foxcroft Heights, Penrose, Columbia Heights, Arlington Heights, Arlington Ridge, and Aurora Highlands.
Similar to the public engagement process undertaken by ELFHD for the Arlington National Cemetery Defense Access Road project (aka "Columbia Pike Multimodal Project - Segment A"), the EFLHD project team solicited public comments on the proposed Arlington Memorial Trail project via the FHWA project website. The Winter 2022/2023 public engagement process closed on February 24, 2023.
Funding
To date, the County has provided funding to EFLHD for preliminary analysis, conceptual design, and project permitting. The County is currently applying for additional federal funding for final engineering design, procurement, and construction. The completed facility will be maintained by Arlington County as part of its ongoing trail network operations.