State Trails Office

About the office

The State Trails Office is an interdepartmental office housed at the Virginia Department of Transportation. The General Assembly through the June 2022 State Budget process instructed VDOT to establish a State Trails Office and directed the office to:

Develop a State Trails Plan and State Trails Information Clearinghouse consistent with recommendations in the January 2022 Report of Virginia Multi-Use Trails Initiative.
Coordinate with the State Trails Advisory Committee (STAC) and the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).

Highlights from the first year of the State Trails Office are available in the STO Recap 2023.

Statewide Multi-use Trails Plan

Virginia’s Statewide Trails Plan will lay the groundwork for a network of regional multi-use trails in the Commonwealth. The plan will:

Inventory existing and proposed trails across the Commonwealth.
Identify key gaps in Virginia's network of trails.
Outline the next steps and best practices in trail development.
Provide opportunities for community visioning and engagement.

The plan will focus on regional multi-use trails

These are a subset of trails and are defined as having the following features:

Multimodal: Serving those who walk, bike, or roll.
Safe: Preferably separated from motor vehicle traffic.
Accessible: Preferably have a hard surface and strive for a grade of less than 5%.
Regionally Connected: Strive for regional connectivity by linking people to places & other trail facilities.

A more detailed definition of regional multi-use trails can be found in the State Trails Office Multi Use Trail Brochure. This definition is for the sole purpose of implementation of the State Multi-use Trails Plan, as authorized by the Virginia General Assembly in 2022. It is intended to focus VDOT's work on multi-use trails that will contribute to the development of a statewide trails system that is complementary to the recreational trails program of the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and the State Trails Advisory Committee (STAC).

An overview of the planning process and timeline for developing the Statewide Multi Use Trails Plan is available in the State Trail Plan factsheet.

Public outreach

Trails survey

The State Trails Office conducted an online survey. Results from the survey are available in STO Survey Summary.

Public online town halls

The State Trails Office hosted three virtual town halls. Materials from the town halls are available in the STO Statewide Town Hall Summary.

Virtual Town Hall #1: Monday, Oct. 30 (6-7:30 p.m.): Western Districts- Briston, Salem, Staunton, and Lynchburg
Virtual Town Hall #2: Wednesday, Nov. 1 (6:30-8 p.m.): Northern Districts -Northern Virginia, Culpeper, and Fredericksburg
Virtual Town Hall #3: Thursday, Nov. 2 (6-7:30 p.m.): Eastern Districts - Richmond and Hampton Roads

Town Halls were open to all, and each meeting followed the same format and presented the same content.

Focus groups

The planning process included five focus groups that were conducted virtually with a wide audience of people.

General Assembly-identified trails

The budget negotiation process for the 2022 State budget negation process resulted in the General Assembly authorizing the State Trails Office and directing VDOT to staff the office. The negotiations also provided a one-time allocation of general fund monies for the development of trails and identified five trail projects.

The five General Assembly-identified trails are:

a map showing the location of the 5 general assembly identified trails

Resource Hub

The State Trails Office is developing a trails clearinghouse or “Trails Resource Hub” to serve as a one-stop shop for trails-related information.

Contact

For more information regarding the trail planning process or to reach the State Trails Office, email us at statetrailsoffice@vdot.virginia.gov.

Last updated: February 6, 2024