A man accused of sexually assaulting a woman on the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail in Herndon in 2024 has pleaded guilty to the charge of rape.
Denis Humberto Roman Navarette, 33, pleaded guilty yesterday (Tuesday) in Fairfax County Circuit Court, according to court records. Per a plea agreement, he could serve up to 18 years in prison, which the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney says exceeds the midpoint of Virginia’s Criminal Sentencing Guidelines for the crime.
The Commonwealth of Virginia is putting some money behind plans to add a visitor center at the heart of the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail.
The two-year state budget adopted by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger in late June includes $1 million for the Town of Vienna to help acquire the land needed for the future hub, a project spearheaded by the W&OD Railroad Regional Park’s owner, NOVA Parks.
Local and state transportation planners hope to provide some additional protection to users of the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail with a new safety initiative.
If approved by the Virginia Department of Transportation, the initiative will add high-visibility stop signs at nine trail intersections in Fairfax County, according to NOVA Parks, which owns the 45-mile-long regional park and is supporting the proposal.
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.
Over the next year, visitors can expect to see fewer invasive plant species and more native plantings along the Washington & Old Dominion Trail and other regional parks.
The NOVA Parks Board of Directors adopted a fiscal year 2027 budget at its meeting last Thursday (May 21) that includes increased funding for invasive species management throughout the system, and for tree and shrubbery plantings along the 45-mile W&OD Trail, among other priorities.
A new pedestrian safety measure will soon help slow down drivers as they approach a Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail crossing in Herndon.
The Town of Herndon announced last week that it’s working to install a Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB) for the crosswalk connecting the trail across Crestview Drive near Old Heights Road.
Recent proposals to use part or all of the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Regional Park for future transit options are non-starters, the body controlling the right-of-way says.
“Similar proposals have been discussed previously and have been determined to not be viable,” NOVA Parks officials said in a March 11 posting on the regional body’s website.
Transit advocates have dusted off a 60-year-old proposal to add transit operations along the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Regional Park.
The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) has received more than 60 requests in recent months to consider the concept, executive director Kate Mattice said at the body’s March 5 meeting.
After months of negotiations and pressure from both elected officials and community members, Dominion Energy and NOVA Parks have settled on a new path forward for managing trees near power lines along the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Railroad Regional Park.
Dominion and the regional park authority, which owns and manages the 45-mile-long W&OD Trail, have reached an agreement governing vegetation management activities that, among other provisions, requires the utility to provide advanced notice of any major maintenance work and to plant native species in affected areas when possible.
With the new year underway, Dominion Energy is gearing up for another round of tree maintenance along the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail, shifting its focus to the Reston area.
The power company has flagged 19 “hazard” trees near its electrical lines for removal in a 2.7-mile stretch of the trail between its Hunter Mill Road substation in Wolf Trap and the Reston substation on Sunset Hills Road, Dominion Electric Transmission Forestry Manager Amanda Keyes told NOVA Parks Executive Director Justin Wilson in a Dec. 16 letter.
