@eminva 27618 wrote:
Hello —
For what reason have they spread gravel along the sides of the W&OD? First they did it in Vienna after the repaving, and now they’ve done it on the bridle path in Falls Church, which is immediately adjacent to the trail in some spots. I realize with repaving there is a steep drop off at the edge of the trail, but is gravel the best solution to that problem?
I’m pretty far from a civil engineer but I think that the problem is twofold- drainage and wear. If you think back to when the Vienna section was rebuilt you’ll remember that the drop is fully 10″ from the paved surface to the bottom, a gap that is now filled with gravel. The gravel + trench probably forms a french drain that clears water from the trail. Without the combo you would get standing water which erodes the sides of the trail and pools in low spots. Worse, add a zillion runner ninja footfalls and now you have a hard packed, non-draining trench.
As for the lose gravel- I actually have a real answer for that- twice now I’ve seen utility/tree trucks in the Vienna section running (albeit slowly) with dual wheels in the gravel which kicks out a ton of loose rock. Both times they have done a reasonable job of cleaning up after themselves but the debris was substantial.
Over time the gravel will silt in a bit (think the Reston – Herndon section) and make for a better landing pad and be more resistant to spreading debris. Also, there aren’t a whole lot of “bail-outs” on streets, bridges, trails or most other terrain- I’m not sure that they need to be explicitly designed in on MUPs either. Heck, I’ve seen MUPs (in Portland) that dealt with drainage simply by leaving the ditch… if you think that the gravel is bad, imagine launching into a foot-deep rock-lined canal!
.
