The Fairfax County Park Authority has identified a way to fully fund a sought-after trail on the south side of Colvin Run Mill Park.
Bond funding originally earmarked for a pedestrian bridge over Pimmit Run in Idylwood will be used instead to complete connections in Colvin Run Park, which is bisected by Route 7 (Leesburg Pike), staff told the Fairfax County Park Authority Board at its Nov. 12 meeting.
“With the completion of VDOT’s Route 7 widening project and based on discussions with Dranesville [District] representatives on both the park board and Board of Supervisors, there is an opportunity to prioritize this project over the Idylwood bridge project at this time,” FCPA trails project manager Beth Iannetta said.
Completed in May 2024, the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Route 7 widening project expanded the thoroughfare from four to six travel lanes — three in each direction — and added a shared-use path between Riva Ridge Drive in Reston and Jarrett Valley Drive just north of the Dulles Toll Road in Tysons.
As part of the project, VDOT constructed a $1.5 million tunnel under Route 7 so Colvin Run visitors can cross between the north side in Great Falls, where the park’s historic mill is located, and the larger, wooded area to the south in Wolf Trap.
However, VDOT didn’t provide any direct links to existing trails on the south side, resulting in what the Friends of Colvin Run Mill called a “tunnel to nowhere.”
The park authority had allocated some money toward a feasibility study, environmental review and design for a future trail and Colvin Run stream crossing in 2023, but it was still seeking construction funding.
According to Iannetta, FCPA estimates that the project will cost a total of $400,000, including approximately $120,000 that has already been spent. That left a shortfall of $280,000 — an amount that staff now plan to cover with the Idylwood bridge funds.
The Idylwood project would involve installing an approximately 50-foot-long steel or possibly fiberglass pedestrian bridge in Pimmit Run Stream Valley Park, providing a connection for the Pimmit Hills community to other parks to the east, according to a status report presented to the parks board in February.
At that time, the park authority had completed a feasibility study and identified funding from a 2020 parks bond as “available” for construction. The estimated project cost was $500,000.
In addition to viewing the Colvin Run trail as more urgent in light of the Route 7 widening project’s completion, FCPA planners determined that the Idylwood Road bridge can’t be installed until the Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) implements some “critical infrastructure projects along Great Falls Street,” a report for the board meeting says.
Though the report says that the funds will shift from one Dranesville District project to another, Dranesville District Park Authority Board member Timothy Hackman clarified at the meeting that the southern portion of Colvin Run Mill Park is actually in the Hunter Mill District.
He confirmed that he still supports the reallocation to advance the Colvin Run trail, in part because it had been promised to the community by former Dranesville District supervisor John Foust. Current Dranesville Supervisor Jimmy Bierman and Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn had also endorsed the project.
“We wanted to try to find funding to make these connections,” Hackman said. “So, I’m happy to use those Dranesville funds, even though this project is mostly in Hunter Mill.”
At the meeting, the park authority board approved a scope for the Colvin Run trail project, which will add approximately 800 linear feet of natural-surface trail from the Route 7 tunnel to the existing Rails to River Trail. The connection will include the construction of a 50-foot by 6-foot fiberglass pedestrian bridge over Colvin Run stream.
With funding now in hand, FCPA staff anticipate finishing the trail design this coming winter, with the permitting process wrapping up in spring 2026. That would put construction on track to take place in the fall of 2026.
