Questions/Concerns:

• Please preserve forests and wetlands by redirecting the Cinder Bed Road Bikeway to a route on existing streets and trails - without lighting in the woods
• Nature Forward and Friends of Accotink Creek oppose the Cinder bed bikeway through the floodplain/wetland area
• What effort has been made to avoid acidic seepage swamp polygon
• What effort has been made to avoid impacting this sensitive environment

Answer/Explanation:

Delineation of jurisdictional waters, including wetlands, within the project study area has been conducted in support of the proposed Cinder Bed Road Bikeway Project. The Project study area is located east of I-95 between Cinder Bed Road at Newington Road and the end of Barry Road near the Franconia-Springfield Metrorail Station, and the existing Metro Path.

The study area includes portions of existing public right-of-way adjacent to Cinder Bed Road and along the existing trail facility, within Fairfax Enclave at Long Branch development, and a portion of forested floodplain, where the Project would be constructed on new location.

Preliminary Jurisdictional Determination (PJD) NAO-2020-00461 was issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on April 7, 2020. Since the PJD was issued over five years ago, the entire Project study area was re-delineated in July and August 2025 to ensure jurisdictional feature boundaries are accurate. There are additional areas included in the delineation due to design changes. The report of the re-delineation was  completed in October 2025, and it will be included in the Joint Permit Application (JPA) submittal to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ), requesting authorization for impacts to Waters of the U.S. for the construction of the project.

Most recently, a field visit was conducted on September 3, 2025, to evaluate the Coastal Plain/Outer Piedmont Acidic Seepage Swamp within the Newington Conservation Area. Representatives from Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), FCDOT, the project design consultant and environmental specialist, Whitman, Requardt & Associates, LLP (WRA), and Friends of Accotink were in attendance. During the site visit both the old (2020) acidic seepage swamp and new (2023) northern polygon were visited. The group walked the proposed trail alignment, which bisects the new DCR acidic seepage swamp polygon.

During the visit, DCR took photos and field notes with intended coordination with DCR staff to potentially change and reduce the limits of this natural heritage resource based on field observations. WRA explained the avoidance and minimization measures in place to allow groundwater to flow beneath the trail and maintain the hydrology of the area.

DCR ultimately reduced the limits of the significant natural communities and revealed that the Cinder Bed Bikeway trail alignment was nearly entirely out of the path of these communities. This was a significant finding and that the project will have less environmental impact than originally estimated.

The Cinder Bed Road Bikeway project has been split into two phases.  Phase 1 – from Newington Road to Cinder Bed Road cul-de-sac, and Phase 2 – from Cinder Bed Road cul-de-sac to Barry Road, including two pedestrian bridges. JPA for the Cinder Bed Road Bikeway Phase 1 has been submitted to USACE and DEQ and the review is in progress. JPA submittal for Phase 2 will be made once the project progresses to Final design. The approved NEPA document will be submitted for re-evaluation to Virginia Department of Transportation before construction commences.

Multiple design considerations have been implemented to minimize environmental impacts within the Phase 2 limit of the project, which include:

• Analyzing multiple alternatives and selecting a revised alignment that significantly avoid impacts to the wetlands and the Natural Heritage sites.
• Building two pedestrian bridges, which help minimize wetland impacts.
• Installing a French mattress in strategic areas of the trail, which helps maintain ecosystem connectivity.