A half-mile path connecting Mount Vernon Trail with Long Bridge Park is now open to pedestrians and cyclists.
The connector between the popular waterfront trail and Boundary Channel Drive is part of a long-anticipated set up upgrades near Long Bridge Drive and the I-395 interchange.
The entire Boundary Channel Drive Interchange Project, which broke ground in 2022, should wrap up by late spring or early summer, according to a Tuesday countywide transportation update.
“The half-mile shared-use path will create a new link from the Mount Vernon Trail to the Pentagon and Long Bridge Park by tying into the existing path that parallels the southbound George Washington Memorial Parkway ramp to southbound I-395,” a Virginia Department of Transportation project page says.
Trail upgrades include a 12-foot-wide westbound shared-use path and an 8-foot-wide eastbound sidewalk.
The shared-use path, according to VDOT’s plans, starts at the Long Bridge Aquatic Center parking lot entrance and follows Long Bridge Drive northbound before connecting with westbound Boundary Channel Drive. It then passes under I-395 and turns north at the western Boundary Channel Drive interchange roundabout.
The trail improvements are part of a larger project to improve traffic safety.
The section of I-395 near Boundary Channel Drive has been known for reckless drivers backing up, crossing multiple lanes of traffic and pulling other stunts to circumvent bollards and access the left-hand ramp to Route 1.
Since December, new traffic patterns have gone into effect in this area, including:
- Southbound I-395 drivers now use the Exit 10A ramp to access both westbound and eastbound Boundary Channel Drive via the western roundabout
- Eastbound Boundary Channel Drive drivers now use the western roundabout to access southbound I-395 via the same loop ramp currently used by westbound Boundary Channel Drive drivers to access southbound I-395
The project has been in the works since at least 2014.