The Northampton County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gave unanimous support to the conversion of almost 50 miles of abandoned railroad tracks to a multi-use recreation trail.
Canonie Atlantic Company is a private entity that owns 49.1 miles of railroad corridor located in Accomack and Northampton Counties commonly called the Eastern Shore Railroad (ESHR).
Canonie Atlantic Company has filed a petition with the Surface Transportation Board to discontinue service and end its common carrier
obligation to provide freight rail service over the approximately 49.1 miles of rail line in Accomack and Northampton Counties. The Surface Transportation Board decided on October 31, 2019 to approve Canonie Atlantic Company’s petition.
The project is called “rails to trails”. There provisions that would allow for the trail to be converted back to railroad use if deemed necessary.
Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail Association with support from the Virginia Bicycling Federation has petitioned the Surface Transportation Board to approve a Certificate or Notice of Interim Trail Use to work with the Accomack-Northampton Transportation District Commission, Canonie Atlantic Company, and the Counties of Accomack and Northampton to begin work on the project.
View the Resolution on County BoardDocs
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I think The Eastern Shore has a sad history of allowing people to leave a huge mess that the county taxpayers end up paying for to clean up. Is that because of vague government direction ? Does the name Whispering Pines Hotel ring a bell ?
Okay, so the railroad is being abandoned. The rails and crossings etc. are now a major league expensive impediment to creating a safe place to ride bicycles. This change sounds very expensive. I have no problem with bicycle touring. It doesn’t benefit everyone though, and at what cost ? Is the plan for the railroad to be cleaning up after themselves ? I see nothing in the minutes of the supervisors meeting. What costs are taxpayers assuming ? Is this vague government direction ?
What I think doesn’t matter as much as a fart in a hurricane. I’m just comment on that it could possibly be an attraction and the use of an area that no longer has a function. The finished part is already close to me. I seldom us it this time of year.
This is a wonderful idea. The trail will be a great asset to the Eastern Shore.
Other communities that have supported rails to trails have had great success and are happy with the results.
Totally worth the effort.
Will a Rails to Trails search find this? I’ll answer that question myself. Thanks for the input!
I was really amazed to see this headline since I had been running this idea past friends for the last year or since the Capeville to CBBT path was complete. The possibility of a unique bike path that could attract thousands of cyclists world wide, is something to be optimistic about. I don’t see much down side. They are bicyclist, no pollution people in tight pants who exercise for enjoyment. The path will take them thru the small towns. maybe a few bike b&bs along the way. Perhaps the trial could even promoted, something the new one isn’t. Not a single single sign on the 13 indicating the path even exists. Build it and “they” will come, or not.
“that could attract thousands of cyclists world wide”
+
“no pollution people in tight pants”(BTW, tight pants are made of spandex, a CHEMICAL)
Will they be biking from all over the world to CC?
SMDH.
Have fun paying the maintenance costs for those “Come here’s” y’all love so much.
Any issue with speculation? By the way I’m from here.
Only speculation with public money do I resist. Is that okay?
Why wouldn’t it be?
Spandex pants will eventually kill all of us. I look forward to the day.
Well, it’s a tad over a month since I visited this thread. I don’t see any info being offered informing us as to who will pay for the tearing up these 49 miles of railroad beds. I really think we NEED to get the supervisors to tell us where that money will come from. It will cost tens of millions of dollars to remove that heavy duty, industrial, man made railroad, flatten it and remove the debris for bicyclists. I have no problem with bicycles or bicyclists. They can visit if they want, and I thank them for their visit. But this is business. If it costs $25 million to prepare the existing railroad for this “business”, do we really want that ? I don’t. I think it will take a long darn time to get that kind of return on investment.
That’s one problem I have with this idea. As if that’s not enough, I now fear an even bigger problem with this. I fear this is an ill conceived pipe dream. Just give me a minute. It’s gonna be a bicycle trail, right ? Just think. Ski trail, motorcycle trail, horse riding trail, 4×4 trail. This is an ex railroad line. It looks as much like a bicycle trail as a crab looks like a Big Mac. Oooops ! It’s darn near a straight line. Real challenging for a cyclist, eh ? A slight oversight ? Or, was my 1st comment a month ago right on target ? Vague direction ? Poor planning ? are our supervisors old friends of the railroad and this was a planned dump on the folks to make us pay for the cleanup ?
WHERE IS THIS CLEAN UP MONEY COMING FROM ? Now that we realize we need to weave a “trail” down through The Shore, where will the money for that come from ? Tree removal, small bridges over creeks, dirt fill, drainage designs, maintenance,…….Uh-oh……how many millions is THAT ?
Have I missed the announcement where the higher tolls on the CBBT is gonna pay for this or something?
Don’t worry about the cost, Bill Barton is gonna pay for it. He digs speculation with public money……not HIS , dear God no but PUBLIC Money is FREE!! FREE!! FREE!!
You hit it on the head! Tell me where to send the money. I can take it out of my social security check I get every month. When it becomes a total disaster you can blame it all on me for my per-mature speculation of private money.
Reasonable questions but no answers. What was the cost of the current path? Where did that money come from? The current bike path is nice but not a cent spent of promoting it. Not one damn sign on 13. I mentioned this to Linwood Lewis but that was a waste of time. I’m not about spending others money, as suggested by others, on something that has no value. Again I don’t have any influence one way or the other. I just raised the “possibility” of it being something of value. That didn’t cost anyone a dime.