The environmental nonprofit Rails to Trails will host a W&OD Trail clean-up day this weekend.
Celebrate Trails Day will take place this Saturday, April 27, along the W&OD from 8:30-11:30 a.m. Volunteers can sign up to select an area from the 45-mile trail to work on, the trail spans from Shirlington to Purcellville.
When volunteers arrive at their chosen areas on the trail, they will receive trash bags and grabbers, as noted on the sign-up site. Event coordinators encourage volunteers to bring gloves, hats and water.
This community cleaning day is the first of many other events that will lead up to the W&OD’s 50th anniversary celebration on September 7. The celebration will commemorate the trail’s transformation from a railroad to a walking trail half a century ago.
Over those years, the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (NOVA) has made numerous improvements to the trail and continues to make adjustments to address safety concerns.
The W&OD has 70 intersections where the trail and a road meet, as noted in a press release. In an effort to prevent trail users and drivers from interfering with each other, bridges have been built at the intersections to keep them on different levels.
NOVA is also implementing “dual parallel trails” for pedestrians and bikers to use. The first segment of dual trails was opened in Falls Church in 2021 and more are expected to be implemented in other areas of the trail.
“NOVA Parks is continuously enhancing the trail to ensure it is user-friendly for its wide-variety of uses,” according to the press release.