ALEXANDRIA, Va. – On Sunday, December 6, I joined other Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail volunteers in cleaning up kudzu. Over 4 days, volunteers removed the invasive vine from the power plant viaduct.
How it started and how it’s going
How it started and how it ended, Mount Vernon Trail bridge edition. If you'd like to be like the incredible volunteers who made this bridge safer, visit https://t.co/bnOJO2bsnC pic.twitter.com/3Ag5XxcGjy
— Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail (@MtVernonFriends) December 6, 2020
The “green tunnel” reduced safety and could have reduced the life of the viaduct. As we have seen with trail infrastructure elsewhere, that would a years-long closure.
More about Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail
Founded in September 2018, Friend of the Mount Vernon Trail believes:
“the trail supports health and high quality of life, is an important historical and environmental resource and is a cornerstone of our regional transportation system.”
Mount Vernon Trail history
In 1972, Alexandrians Ellen Pickering and Barbara Lynch conceived of the trail and worked with the National Park Service to get it started. Initially a volunteer effort, the trail soon became popular and began to take form. The power plant viaduct was opened in 1983.
Coincidentally, December 7 is an important date in MVT history as well — completion to the Theodore Roosevelt Island parking area.
On this day in 1988 – The Mt. Vernon Trail extension to Theodore Roosevelt Island opened. This created a connection between the Mt. Vernon Trail and, what the Post at the time called, the Custis-Lee, I-66 Trail (now just the Custis). pic.twitter.com/1GknNknIYL
— DC Bike History (@DCBikeHistory1) December 7, 2020
The connector to Rosslyn had opened earlier that year.
Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail also completed service projects on the wooden viaduct, the Trollheim Bridge this season.
Our volunteers used our new pressure washer for the first time on Trollheim Bridge today with incredible results. Help keep us going by volunteering at https://t.co/bnOJO2bsnC or donating at https://t.co/31Gtr5DKAv pic.twitter.com/FtrKJqJxwb
— Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail (@MtVernonFriends) December 5, 2020