Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park visitors can now officially enjoy the trail during the same hours at any point in its 45-mile length.
The board of directors for NOVA Parks, the regional authority that owns and operates the park, voted at its May 21 meeting to standardize 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily as the W&OD Trail’s formal operating hours, effective immediately.
While those hours were already in place east of Herndon through Arlington County, the western section of the trail from Herndon to Purcellville in Loudoun County previously operated from dawn to dusk, according to a press release.
“Adjusting the hours to 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. year-round for the full 45 miles of trail standardizes operation across jurisdictions and enhances communication about trail operating hours,” NOVA Parks said. “The change responds to frequent requests from commuters to expand hours between Herndon and Purcellville and reflects the park’s actual usage.”
For the most part, walkers, cyclists and other users won’t notice much of a difference, since the trail is rarely blocked off anyway, except for maintenance work and events like ViVa Vienna.
The W&OD park’s website has already been updated with the new hours, and signage along the trail “will be updated as needed,” NOVA Parks communications director Kelly Gilfillen said.
However, the change in hours could affect how the trail is monitored. Per a staff memo to the NOVA Parks board, implementing the new hours involved informing local “jurisdictions and law enforcement,” along with the Friends of the W&OD and its Trail Patrol volunteers.
With hours now extending into the early morning and night, NOVA Parks will also update its lighting standards in the coming months for localities that might want to deploy new lights along the W&OD Trail.
Established in 1974 along the same path as the former Washington & Old Dominion Railroad, the W&OD Trail is now used by more than 2 million people annually for both recreation and commuting, according to the regional park authority.
The move to expand the trail’s hours emerged from a discussion at the board’s March 19 meeting about the park’s safety conditions.
According to the meeting’s official minutes, NOVA Parks Operations Superintendent Kevin Casalenuovo suggested the board consider updates to a number of policy areas, from increased lighting and a potential speed limit to restrictions on e-bikes, enhanced cooperation with law enforcement and an expansion of its dual trails concept.
NOVA Parks proposed expanding the “dual trails” design — which features separate paths for cyclists and people on foot — from Falls Church to other parts of the trail in a five-year strategic plan released in 2022. However, four years later, that has yet to be implemented.
At its May 21 meeting, the NOVA Parks board also approved a new budget that includes funding for systemwide invasive species management, native tree and shrub plantings along the W&OD Trail and an update to the strategic plan for fiscal years 2028-2033, among other items.
