Open Forum: Rail To Trail Supported By Broadway Lions

Originally appeared in the Daily News Record

By Daniel F. Fraser March 26, 2024

Broadway LOVEwork at Heritage Park.

The Broadway Lions Club is proud to endorse the Rails to Trail Project.

Several years ago, a member of the Broadway Lions Club proposed that we investigate expanding the Broadway Heritage Park. The town owns the parcel of land across Turner Avenue (not suitable for housing) that has been used to handle overflow parking for events. When the Shenandoah Rail Trail Exploratory Partnership announced that the state of Virginia had agreed with a feasibility study about turning the abandoned railroad into a multi-use trail, the idea of expanding the park took on a new purpose. The land will be at the start/end of the Rails to Trails and the new park will have direct access to the trail without people having to travel along a roadway. While plans are not finalized, preliminary plans include parking, a picnic area, pavilion with restrooms, and a sensory trail.

The plan is for this project to go forward even before the Rail to Trails is completed as it is not being developed solely for those using the trail but as originally planned, the people of Broadway. The funds needed for this project are estimated to be around $500,000 and we are looking at a matching grant to help fund the project.

Unfortunately, The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation recently has stepped into the fight over the abandoned rail line claiming they want to preserve a railroad built just before the Civil War. The rail does not cross any currently preserved battlefields. If you look at their board, you will note that the President of the foundation is a former senior executive of Norfolk Southern (who owns the abandoned railroad) and a board member is an owner of a business that wants to preserve the rail so that maybe, someday, the rail line will be restored. If this is a viable option, then why has Norfolk Southern already agreed to a tentative agreement to sell the rail line instead of spending the tens of millions of dollars it will take to restore the rail line?

The trail will have a major economic impact from the tourists visiting our area, as well as every town and county along the rail corridor. That fact alone should be sufficient argument for the abandoned rail line to be converted to a trail as soon as possible. It will also be a selling point to raise the funds needed for the project, which will benefit everyone.

Daniel F. Fraser, Club Treasurer