Last week, we welcomed a long-awaited pedestrian bridge over U.S. Route 29! On the other side of town, however, VDOT unveiled a new proposal for the planned Fifth Street bridge over Interstate 64 that would not include bike infrastructure. Take action today!
Parks and Trails
Halloween Bike Ride, E-Bike Opportunities, New Pedestrian Bridge
This text was taken from an email alert sent out on October 28, 2025. Sign up for email alerts →
Dear Mobility Advocates and Allies:
I can’t believe the Loop de Ville was a month ago!
It was very fun and I’ll always remember it. What’s even more exciting is that people keep telling me that it introduced them to new trails and to the community. I wrote a blog post about how the annual trailfest encourages more people to explore area trails by emphasizing – and learning from — the social aspects of outdoor exploration.
Now as October transitions to November I’d like to invite you to explore town on one of my favorite group bike rides, to check out two e-bike opportunities and to celebrate a new pedestrian bridge that will cross one of the area’s worst barriers and save lives.
Halloween Bike Ride
Sunday, Nov. 2, 3:30 – 6 p.m.
Charlottesville Community Bikes (917 #D Preston Avenue)
Costumes are encouraged for this late-afternoon, family-friendly ride. We’ll mainly use quiet neighborhood streets to visit a few spooky locations in town, finding fellowship and safety in numbers. The pace will be slow, suitable for anyone who is capable of staying on their bike for about an hour (with plenty of breaks).
As always we need volunteers to help with the ride and hanging flyers
(English | Spanish) around town.
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Two E-Bike Opportunities
By helping you conquer hills, making it easier to maintain a steady pace and eliminating the need for a wardrobe change after your ride, e-bikes can change your bicycling equation in our hilly region. That’s why Charlottesville is offering $1,000 vouchers for e-bike purchases to city residents.
The deadline for the next drawing is this Friday, Oct. 31.
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E-Bike Demo
Wednesday, Oct. 29, noon – 2 p.m.
Ting Pavilion on the Downtown Mall
If you’d like to try an e-bike, stop by the Ting Pavilion on Wednesday. The
Cville E-bike Lending Library will be on hand with several different models with various configurations and price points.
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Pedestrian Bridge Ribbon Cutting
Thurs., Nov. 13, 10 – 11 a.m.
U.S. Route 29 at Zan Road; park at Burton’s Grill (2010 Bond St.)
VDOT has announced that the long-awaited pedestrian bridge over U.S. Route 29 at Zan Road will finally be completed October 31. This new bridge is technically located in both Charlottesville and Albemarle County, at the core of the combined urban area. It will link major existing commercial areas, where many people live today and many more are expected in the future.
In the meantime, it will make it safer to cross one of the area’s most intractable barriers. Join us as we celebrate this critical link in the wider regional network that will make daily life easier and safer.
This email combines both advocacy opportunities and social events because I see the two as deeply connected. I make that point in the blog post I referenced at the top of this email. By working together we inspire and learn from one another. That moves projects forward and makes them better, improving physical connectivity and social cohesion in a positive cycle.
I hope to experience that wheel turning together with you at either the E-bike Demo, the Halloween Ride or the long-awaited Ribbon Cutting!
Peter Krebs
Albemarle & Charlottesville Community Advocacy Manager
[email protected]
(434) 465-9869
p.s. Here’s an additional way to get more involved with local issues in Albemarle County this week. There are Community Advisory Committees for each of the seven urban areas in the county and are an important avenue to learn about and discuss upcoming issues, projects and developments. They are all meeting at once this Thursday.
All-Community Advisory Committee Meeting
Thurs. Oct. 30, 6 – 8 p.m.
Albemarle County Office Building (401 McIntire Rd.)
Loop de ‘Ville Creates Community, Outdoors
More than 350 people braved a rainy day to take part in the Loop de ’Ville Sept. 23, 2025. The full-day, 20-mile adventure is organized by a coalition of groups seeking to draw more people outdoors, specifically to experience Charlottesville’s Rivanna Trail.
A legacy of conservation and community at risk in Fauquier County
From their storied pasts to the present day, the Fauquier County towns of Remington, Bealeton and the many unique crossroad communities in the surrounding region have been characterized by their rural charm. And for decades, The Piedmont Environmental Council has been committed to collaborating with these local communities on conservation, land use planning, historic preservation and public access to nature. But as pressure for massive data center complexes spreads beyond Northern Virginia into the Piedmont’s special rural communities, we worry the progress and investments we and many others have made toward conserving, enhancing and preserving these communities will be lost forever.
1990s | PEC opposed the Fauquier Forward plan that would have widened Virginia State Route 28 and replaced the agricultural economy through that area with suburbs. Instead, we advocated for an alternative vision of conservation and helped create the county’s Purchase of Development Rights program, which pays landowners to relinquish development rights on their properties, thus supporting farmers, preserving the environmental and economic benefits of agriculture and preventing costly sprawl. Since then, Fauquier’s PDR program has become a model for other places, creating an important tool for landowners who want to keep their land in farming.
2006 | PEC helped the county acquire Rappahannock Station Battlefield Park, preserving this critical battlefield for a future public park and recreation area near the town of Remington. PEC supported development of a master plan for the park and continues to advocate for walking trails and interpretive signage that will tell the important history of the town and this historic battlefield.
2017 | In support of Remington’s effort to strengthen tourism and enhance pedestrian safety, PEC received a PATH Foundation grant to develop a plan called Remington Walks. This plan to rejuvenate Main Street with walking trails, town signage, pedestrian-friendly connectivity and more was developed with input gathered during community meetings and walking audits with residents. Remington Walks was adopted into Remington’s comprehensive plan and has been a guide and supportive document for several subsequent projects, including a gazebo next to the town hall, completed trail connections to Margaret Pierce Elementary and an improved railroad crossing accessible for strollers and wheelchairs downtown.
2021 | PEC and numerous partners set about creating an Upper Rappahannock River Water Trail that provides much-needed public access at several points along this Virginia-designated scenic river. In August 2021, we helped cut the ribbon on the new Rector Tract public canoe and kayak launch a short walk from downtown Remington. Open dawn to dusk, this launch closes a 25-mile gap in public access to the river between Riverside Preserve and Kelly’s Ford in Culpeper County.
2021 | Waterloo Bridge over the Rappahannock River is the uppermost point of the historic Rappahannock Canal, an important historic resource and a unique community treasure. Built in 1878, it was closed in 2014 and slated for replacement by the Virginia Department of Transportation. Advocating for its restoration, rather than replacement, PEC invested in a consultant to put forward a restoration alternative, held numerous community meetings, pushed VDOT to consider other options, and, with the financial help of the Hitt family, was able to fully restore the oldest metal truss bridge still standing in Virginia today.
2021 | PEC established a native plant garden at C.M. Crockett Park in Midland. As a part of our efforts to promote native landscaping practices, we applied for a grant from Kortlandt Fund of the Northern Piedmont Community Foundation to purchase the native plants for the project. We also designed the garden and worked with the Fauquier Parks and Recreation Department and community volunteers to install it.
The network of support to conserve, enhance, and preserve Remington and southern Fauquier extends well beyond PEC. The local churches, the Virginia Cooperative Extension, and John Waldeck established the Remington Community Garden. The town utilized a PATH Make It Happen Grant to build a new gazebo next to the town hall. And the Remington Community Partnership — run by the tireless Mary and Ray Root — has worked to document, preserve and promote the historic resources of the town. Countless people have led numerous other projects, but a comprehensive list could take up the entire publication!
Remington and its surrounding areas are at the intersection of two very different futures. The tremendous work we’ve all already done together paves a path that retains the region’s rural charm, agricultural heritage and economy, and promise of a vibrant place for visitation and recreation.
This progress is threatened by pressure from multiple data center proposals that could put more industrial development in the quaint town of Remington than all the commercial space in Fauquier County combined. Together these projects would open a floodgate of new transmission lines, substations, construction traffic, air pollution, noise, and massive concrete computer warehouses that will crowd out other forms of investment and business interest and induce even more industrial sprawl.
Before our county leaders make major decisions that will forever alter a critical piece of Fauquier’s rural identity and economy, it’s important to revisit and remember the investments and community accomplishments made in the face of past development pressures that would have transformed this region.
This article appeared in the 2025 fall edition of The Piedmont Environmental Council’s member newsletter, The Piedmont View. If you’d like to become a PEC member or renew your membership, please visit pecva.org/join.
Fall Foliage Festival at Sky Meadows State Park
Enjoy the beauty of fall in Virginia at the Fall Foliage Festival at Sky Meadows State Park in Paris, VA on October 18 and 19, 2025.
Loop de Ville Trail Fest + 3 Mile Walk
September 27 @ 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Take part in the annual celebration of the beloved Rivanna Trail in Charlottesville (and National Public Lands Day). There are a wide-variety of hikes, runs, and bike rides of various distances, including the full 20-mile loop or half-loop. All activities will begin and then conclude with a finish line celebration at the Rivanna River Company. View the full schedule at loopdeville.org for more details and to register.
This year, PEC will be co-leading a up to 3 mile riverside stroll for people of all abilities along with Charlottesville’s forester, Steve Gaines.
Our goal, along with other organizers, is to put on a fun event free of barriers so community members from all backgrounds and abilities can join and have a good time. So, if that means just spending time at the Rivanna River Company in community with others (starting at 12 p.m.), that’s great!
Mobility Alliance Meeting + Social
Gather at Decipher Brewing to talk walking, biking and getting outside with the Piedmont Mobility Alliance Friday, Aug. 8!
Take Action: Make Free Bridge Lane Permanently Car-free
Late last year, Albemarle County closed Free Bridge Lane to automobile traffic, creating a safe, riverside space for walking, running, and biking. That has proved very popular so the Board of Supervisors will discuss making the arrangement permanent at its August 6 meeting.
Here are five ways you can help:
- Please sign PEC’s petition requesting the following: 1) finalize the road closure, 2) fund and build a first wave of safety, access and environmental improvements, and 3) budget in coming years to construct the proposed promenade. We will forward the petition to County leaders when the time comes.
- Contact the Board of Supervisors directly and tell them why places like Free Bridge Lane are important to you.
- Attend the August 6 meeting and consider speaking during the public comment period (at the beginning of the meeting).
- Share your ideas for improvements, projects, activities, or events you would like to see On Free Bridge Lane (especially things that can be done quickly, cheaply and that you would be willing to champion).
- Get inspired! A team of PEC Summer Fellows has prepared an idea book of (mostly) practical ways to transform the disused roadway into a lively park. Take a look!
The future of Free Bridge Lane will depend on a combination of volunteer energy, private donations and certain specific actions that only the government can take (like improving the safety and access). We depend on all of you to make it happen!
In the meantime, go check it out. The flat, paved riverside space is especially good for learning ride a bike or rollerblade, doing measured wind sprints or walking with elders. [Info page]
A Conversation on Trails and Connectivity
While conserving the verdant landscapes of Virginia’s Piedmont is foundational to The Piedmont Environmental Council’s mission, making the outdoors accessible to everyone has become an equally vital goal. Over the past few years, we have deliberately integrated trail development into our broader conservation mission, protecting strategic properties that can serve as trail corridors or public access points to create lasting places and ways for people to experience the Piedmont’s natural beauty firsthand.
American Kestrel Ecology
June 13 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Join us to learn about conservation efforts to provide nesting habitat for American Kestrels across the Virginia Piedmont and Shenandoah Valley.
October Greenfield, Wildlife Habitat Program Manager for The Piedmont Environmental Council, will present on American Kestrel ecology and conservation challenges, followed by a field walk to learn about monitoring nest boxes.
What to expect: A lecture-style talk in the library, followed by a walk to kestrel monitoring nest boxes.
Who can come: This program is designed for adults, but children accompanied by adults are welcome.
What to bring: Please be sure to wear appropriate footwear and clothing for longer grass and uneven terrain (sunscreen and bug spray recommended).
Where to meet: Meet in the library (located in the Quarters building)
Tickets are available for purchase at the link below. Event organized by the Foundation of the State Arboretum.