Preserving the natural environment in Bryan Park and developing a first-class Fall Line Trail within the park are not mutually exclusive. 

Yet, instead, Richmond City officials are planning to put 3/4 of a mile of new pavement in Bryan Park, eliminating green space and paving over the roots of dozens of mature trees. The route the City has chosen is destructive. There are beautiful existing paved back roads in Bryan Park that could be used and would not cause such harm, and would cost far less than the current almost $3 million price tag that taxpayers must foot.

As currently designed, the trail is 10 feet wide with a minimum of 2-foot graded shoulders on both sides, it is more like a road than a trail and will pave over green space, destroy tree roots leading to tree decline and possible death, and even pose a potential danger to cyclists, soccer players, playground users, and other park users as it runs through the busiest and most congested sections of the park.

In late June, I clipped the editorial “Extreme Heat a Wake-up Call” by Ben Jealous, intending to respond, but it was just too hot to do anything. As he stated with multiple examples, extreme heat is a killer and in Richmond, we suffered through dangerous temperatures during most of June and July. In fact, according to a recent federal government report, June 2024 ranked as the warmest on record in the Northern Hemisphere at almost 3 degrees Fahrenheit above average and .58 degrees warmer than the previous June record of 2023.

Because of the real dangers of rising heat, one of the things that progressive localities are doing is planting more trees. But it takes a long time for a tree to reach maturity and to provide essential benefits such as cooling and air pollution reduction. Therefore, in addition to planting new trees, we also have to commit to caring for and preserving big old trees.

In the case of Bryan Park, the existing paved roads could be used for the Fall Line Trail and would not cause harm to the valuable trees or pave over irreplaceable green space

The details of this project are just barely getting out and time is ticking. The City is looking at starting construction later in August. They need to delay construction until a well-publicized community meeting is held. There are alternative trail routes through Bryan Park that are not so destructive.

Elizabeth Barrett

Bellevue