Trail Closure at Lake Accotink Park

[DanB]

The Fairfax County Park Authority will be constructing a pedestrian bridge across Accotink Creek below the dam and spillway beginning June 2022 and ending in the spring of 2023. Trail users will not be able to circumnavigate the Lake Accotink loop trail due to construction.

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/planning-development/development/lake-accotink-dam-stream-crossing

This was taken on June 11 before the fences went up.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]29065[/ATTACH]

This was taken today from the top of the hill on the other side of the dam.
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[huskerdont]

Was caught by surprise with this while running on Sunday. Note that if you’re the kind of person who does this kind of thing, it’s easy enough to get around on foot. In fact, people were fishing from the old low-water bridge. Would not be as easy with a bike.

Making pedestrian access for this would have been difficult, but for those who live nearby and use it often, this would doubtless be a pain.

[DanB]

Here’s an update on the Lake Accotink trail work. The picture was taken Sep. 1.
Looks like crews have been busy removing the trail surface, fair weather crossing and culverts. It’s hard to see clearly what work is being done.

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[DanB]

Here’s what the bridge construction looks like today. (Picture taken on the side opposite the parking lot and marina.) It looks like they’re making good progress. I think there’s a solid chance they’ll finish before summer.

If you zoom in, you can see the finished pylons. It looks like they’re planning a bump-out for people to look at the dam and be out of the way.

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[Starduster]

@DanB 219954 wrote:

Here’s an update on the Lake Accotink trail work. The picture was taken Sep. 1.
Looks like crews have been busy removing the trail surface, fair weather crossing and culverts. It’s hard to see clearly what work is being done.

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It looks like they are also taming that sharp grade on the far side.

[Jan Johnson]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]30348[/ATTACH] It appears to be coming right along.

[Starduster]

@Jan Johnson 224400 wrote:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]30348[/ATTACH] It appears to be coming right along.

Is there more official information on this project? I went looking at Fairfax County’s Lake Accotink Park’s website and found little beyond an announcement.

[mstone]

In hindsight seems like a waste of money since you’ll be able to just bike across once the lake is gone.

[Lt. Dan]

@mstone 224405 wrote:

In hindsight seems like a waste of money since you’ll be able to just bike across once the lake is gone.

Yeah reading about how they want to get rid of the lake, It seems like one decision or the other is a little shortsighted…

[Starduster]

@Lt. Dan 224727 wrote:

Yeah reading about how they want to get rid of the lake, It seems like one decision or the other is a little shortsighted…

I should now ask a question unthought of until now- This is a manmade lake created with a dam, which was not intended to provide hydroelectric power. Why was this lake (along with Lake Barcroft or Lake Anne, the birthplace of Reston) created? Flood control, or a developer’s dream of a lakeside community?

[Jan Johnson]

I believe that it was created as a reservoir for Camp Humphries, which I think was pre-Belvoir
Wikipedia has an entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Accotink

[mstone]

yes, was originally a reservoir. it’s been dredged before, more than once, but dredging is a lot more expensive and there’s nowhere left to put the dirt. basic problem is too much sediment coming in, because of bad land management practices going back decades which won’t be fixed. (it’s expensive, and there’s no incentive to do so as the costs are fully externalized.) remember the “rain tax” that was got so much ridicule a few years back? this is some of what happens when there isn’t one.

[Author]

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