A Unique Trail
The name derives from the fact that the trail links the three capitals of the British Colony of Virginia and the Commonwealth of Virginia after independence, for a total of over 400 years.
Unlike many rail trail projects which utilize former railroad rights-of-way, no railroad was ever built along this corridor. Instead, the Virginia Capital Trail essentially parallels the north shore of the James River and Virginia Route 5 approximately 54 miles (87 km) between the two cities, from the Capitol in Colonial Williamsburg through portions of James City County, Charles City County, and Henrico County to the current Virginia State Capitol in Richmond.
The trail will utilize the new Judith Stewart Dresser Bridge which crosses the Chickahominy River at the 1634 border of James City and Charles City counties. The $33.6 million fixed span bridge is a replacement for an older movable swing-span bridge. It was specifically designed to include a 10-foot (3.0 m) shared-use path (separated from the main roadway by a divider) for the Virginia Capital Trail's users.
Read more about this topic: Virginia Capital Trail
Famous quotes containing the words unique and/or trail:
“When each thing is unique in itself, there can be no comparison made.... There is only this strange recognition of present otherness.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“These, and such as these, must be our antiquities, for lack of human vestiges. The monuments of heroes and the temples of the gods which may once have stood on the banks of this river are now, at any rate, returned to dust and primitive soil. The murmur of unchronicled nations has died away along these shores, and once more Lowell and Manchester are on the trail of the Indian.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)