The area beyond the cul-de-sac is still overgrown, more of a thicket than a thoroughfare.
But as residents, city leaders and representatives from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) gathered Thursday evening where Caroline Street ends and greenery begins, you could envision a clear path forward for the Dixon Park Connector Trail.
Construction on the trail, which will span approximately half a mile from lower Caroline Street to an area behind Dixon Park, could begin as early as 2028, according to a VDOT representative who attended the informational meeting. It’s fully funded by VDOT’s SMART SCALE program, which supports transportation projects of various sizes and scopes across the state.
The pedestrian and bicycle trail will effectively link downtown and Mayfield, where it will connect with Dixon Park’s existing trail system. In addition to the trail itself, the project calls for on-street bike accommodations on the stretch of Caroline Street between the train station and the trailhead.
“Right now, there isn’t a very strong connection to our southern neighborhoods,” said Mike Craig, the city’s Director of Community Planning and Building. “Once we do make that connection, I think it’s a real benefit for those folks to be able to walk and bike into these portions of the city that we all enjoy, folks that live in this area now. So that really is another purpose of it.”
Currently, cyclists and pedestrians must use Dixon Street (State Route 2) to access Mayfield, traversing a stretch of roadway where traffic is heavy and speeding is pervasive.
“I’m going to use it six times a week,” said Mary Margaret Marshall, a member of the city’s planning commission who lives one street over from the proposed trail. Marshall, an avid cyclist, said she rides 26 miles a day — and 100 miles twice a week — throughout the city’s streets.
“And right now, I take my life in my hands,” she said. “But when this is put in, I’m not going to have to do that anymore.”
Not all residents were quite so enthused, however.
Charles McDaniel, who owns a home abutting the cul-de-sac, cited concerns about on-street parking as well as homeless encampments in the wooded area surrounding the trail, which is located entirely on city property.
For his part, Fredericksburg Planning Commission Chair David Durham opined that the trail “may minimize the attractiveness of those camps going forward. As more people use this, those become less attractive to the unhoused population,” he said.
City Manager Tim Baroody told McDaniel that one option is to restrict parking in the area, a process that can be initiated via city ordinance if 50% or more of affected residents were to sign a document. And, suggested Mayor Kerry Devine, the city could simply encourage trailgoers to park on the other end, at Dixon Park.
As the project is being funded and facilitated through VDOT, it doesn’t require further public hearings or approval by city council. Instead, VDOT will hold its own public hearing, centered on engineering and construction issues, with a minimum 30 days’ notice.
But, as Craig noted, this isn’t a new concept. A trail linking Dixon Park to the downtown corridor first shows up in city pathways documents around 2006, he said.
Another resident asked who would “foot the bill” if the project’s cost were to exceed the approximately $9.3 million awarded through SMART SCALE in 2023.
“We’re confident in the scope of the project as it currently stands,” Craig said. “If we’ve got to change, we’re going to react, and we’re right now just going to be positive and move forward with the work that we’ve done so far, which we feel good about.”
