Ed. — From the Sunday, Jan. 7, print edition.
VIRGINIA BEACH — My first long run in Virginia Beach was a foolish mistake only a visitor could make. I left my soon-to-be-husband’s Salem Lakes home and headed down to Indian River Road, then onto Elbow Road and out to Chesapeake.
I wore a Walkman strapped to my waist for music but left my bulky cell phone behind. There weren’t any sidewalks or trails along the mostly tree-lined roadways. I imagined my route was safe for pedestrians.
A long-distance runner, I planned to be gone for a while. I didn’t consider the time required to frequently step off the road into the drainage ditches to let trucks and cars fly by. It wasn’t until I returned hours later that I learned from others how dangerous my route had been.
A full-contact basketball game with my boys ended my running days about 10 years later, and I then became an avid walker. Finding a safe trail that doesn’t end at a major roadway or require a constant sidewalk loop to accumulate worthwhile mileage has been challenging.
But that’s changing throughout the city. Those changes are good for all of us.
I live in the Transition Area, a part of the city initially envisioned as a recreation area with residential development as a backdrop. Parks and open space would be abundant, and walking and biking trails would go on for miles, leading the whole way out to Sandbridge. Homeowners could imagine walking a trail through a connected neighboring subdivision to a local farmstand for summertime produce shopping. There would be parks and golf courses, walking and biking trails and farm fields aplenty.
These were the plans and the dreams of the starry-eyed, it seemed. For years, we walkers and bikers imagined what that life would be like. We discussed what it would take to bring such highfalutin dreams to fruition. Would it be city-procured rights-of-way? What about new developments connecting to older ones and so on? Could parks and trails be built that led somewhere other than a dead end or a loop back around?
Many of us thought we wouldn’t see these trails in our lifetime.
Yet here they are.
In the Transition Area, Ashville Park’s new sidewalk connection to Heritage Park will provide residents with walking and biking access to shops and services that once required vehicle travel. Three Oaks Path is also underway, linking the city-owned park to Sherwood Lakes and the Red Mill shopping area. Munden Farms will soon connect to Vanguard Landing, which will connect to a new development that connects to Ashville Park and beyond – by way of a trail system that has always been in the plans for the area. This trail system will be one of the best ways to illustrate and emphasize the Transition Area’s value to the city’s health and well-being.
There have been some worrisome land use applications and decisions this past year, but we can’t let this overshadow the positive progress Virginia Beach has made toward a more active lifestyle for everyone. From the bike and walkways along Nimmo Parkway and Princess Anne Road to those on Shore Drive and Marshview Park, we now have more ways to explore the city and see our world from a new perspective.
These health-conscious transportation shifts are not happening in a vacuum. They will continue throughout the city and for many years to come, evidenced most notably in our city’s Comprehensive Plan, which includes the soon-to-start Virginia Beach Trail, a projected 12-mile-long multi-use trail linking Norfolk to the Oceanfront.
We may have a ways to go to an entirely walkable and bikeable city, but the path to that destination is well underway.
The author is a former Virginia Beach Planning Commissioner and college professor. Reach her at leejogger@gmail.com.
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