Some sections of the Virginia Capital Trail have seen a 100% increase in users during the pandemic. (Photo by Bill Draper courtesy Virginia Capital Trail Foundation)
On Oct. 2, 2015, just days after the UCI Road World Championships departed Richmond, officials gathered at the Virginia Holocaust Museum for the ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the 51.7 miles of the Virginia Capital Trail.
The event marked the culmination of 10 years of construction on the $72 million multiuse paved trail that connects downtown Richmond to Williamsburg along Route 5, ending at the Jamestown Settlement.
According to the most recent study, Capital Trail visitors spent an estimated $8.9 million throughout the state in fiscal year 2018-19, with 95% of this money spent within a 50-mile radius of the trail.
The trail has seen a dramatic increase in users with the pandemic, says Cat Anthony, executive director of the Virginia Capital Trail Foundation. “Depending on the part of the trail, we have seen up to a 100% increase [in users],” she says. “So many people have been buying bikes or getting out their old bikes. … I think people are realizing how trails and green spaces are really essential.”
While paths such as the Virginia Creeper Trail and New River Trail closed during the early days of the pandemic, the Capital Trail remained open.
The foundation’s annual Cap to Cap bike ride fundraiser was changed to a virtual event this year, and a new event, the Quarantine Challenge, was added, encouraging people to bike, run or walk all 51.7 miles at one time or in sections this summer.
This month, trail users can celebrate its fifth birthday by completing a passport (visit virginiacapitaltrail.org for details) or running a virtual 5K or 10-miler to benefit the Capital Trail Foundation. Sports Backers will also use the trail as the route for its annual marathon, half-marathon and 8K from Nov. 7-22.
Anthony says the foundation is currently advocating to extend the trail to Colonial Williamsburg at its eastern end, and “there is more good stuff to come,” including the trail’s first permanent restrooms at the Four Mile Creek trailhead, to be built by Henrico County.
