The National Park Service has a new plan for updating the popular Mount Vernon Trail and the section of the George Washington Memorial Parkway running to Mount Vernon from south of Alexandria’s city limits.

The plan, released to the public on Monday for a month-long comment period, would make major upgrades and improvements to two of the area’s most-traveled routes.

The Park Service says the plan is “needed to help preserve the historic parkway for future generations, improve the visitor experience, reduce annual park operations and maintenance costs, and improve visitor safety,” in the plan document.

The 8.5-mile southern section of the GW Parkway is one of the “most heavily used roadways” administered by the Park Service, the plan notes, but it hasn’t had major section-wide upgrades since it was built in 1932, including to its water drainage systems. (The last series of comprehensive repairs to the pavement was in 1986.) The roadway had 7 million recreational visitors and 33 million non-recreation users in 2022.

The 18-mile Mount Vernon Trail, which runs from Roosevelt Island down to Mount Vernon along the Potomac River, is also a popular biking, walking, and running route. The Park Service calls it “one of the most heavily used multi-use trails in the country,” with more than 1 million users every year. Currently, though, the narrow trail is often crowded, causing conflicts between cyclists and pedestrians trying to share the space, and the pavement itself is cracked and old.

The Park Service is proposing major improvements to the sections of the trail it administers (the City of Alexandria oversees a section in the middle). Where possible, the plan calls for widening the trail, to at least ten feet across, the current minimum standard for multi-use trails with traffic going in two directions. Southern sections of the trail may expand even further, to 12 feet across. Throughout, the Park Service anticipates putting in place infrastructure and features designed to help mitigate stormwater runoff impacts to the trail and its users.

Big bridge repairs are also on the Park Service’s agenda, with full replacements of four current bridges and extensive rehabilitation work for 29 more structures top of the list.

At Gravelly Point, the grassy park where visitors can get up close and personal with the underbellies of the jets landing at National Airport, the Park Service is proposing constructing a permanent restroom to replace the port-a-potties currently there. Other possible visitor experience improvements include adding water bottle filling stations to existing water fountains, new benches, and six new Capital Bikeshare locations (at Lady Bird Johnson Park, Daingerfield Island, Belle Haven Park, Fort Hunt Park, Riverside Park, and Mount Vernon; currently, there are just two along the trail, at Roosevelt Island and Gravelly Point).

Pedestrian and bike safety improvements could also be coming to the Mount Vernon Trail as well, including traffic calming measures and new signage at intersections where the trail crosses a road. The plan also recommends bike roundabouts at the intersection with Four Mile Run Trail in Arlington and at the intersection with the bike path over the 14th Street Bridge.

Pedestrian and bike safety is also a key focus for the changes slated for the southern GW Parkway. That section of the parkway can be particularly dangerous, with cars in multiple travel lanes driving at high speeds, and pedestrians and cyclists are forced to cross four or more lanes of traffic at intersections. A 2021 study commissioned by the Park Service found that most drivers were going well over the posted speed limit. The nine major intersections along the section of the parkway had nearly 40 crashes between 2018 and 2019, the study found.

In response, the Park Service is proposing a “road diet,” which usually involves removing driving lanes and implementing other changes designed to limit car speeds and expand visibility for pedestrians. Specifically, the Park Service is planning to remove a travel lane on each side of the Parkway — where it’s feasible and won’t cause excessive congestion — southbound between Mount Vernon and Belle View Boulevard, and northbound between Tulane Drive and Mount Vernon. The plan would preserve a second lane at intersections as a right-turn only lane, and in some places include a center turn lane or striped median. The plan includes a detailed proposal for each intersection.

The plan would also add new safety features to the nine intersections along the parkway section, including new crosswalks, plus the potential for pedestrian median safety areas, rectangular rapid flashing beacons, and signage telling drivers their current speed. The Park Service is also proposing constructing a network of trails and sidewalks to help people get from neighborhoods east of the parkway to the new crosswalks. Up to five locations along the roadway could be candidates for speed cameras, per the plan, though that’s pending the Park Service receiving approval to issue violations for speeding along GW Parkway, an authority it does not currently have.

The Park Service acknowledges the construction required to implement its plans for the GW Parkway and Mount Vernon Trail could be disruptive to commuters and tourists along the route, including delays, detours, scenic views blocked by construction equipment, altered access to historic sites along the route, and more. It also notes the project’s possible impacts on nearby trees, plants, and wildlife, including two species of bat currently on the Endangered Species Act list.

Residents have until October 24 to weigh in on the National Park Service’s ideas. Members of the public can view the plan and submit their thoughts here.