Holmes Run Park: New Mile Markers, Other Improvements Coming

New mile markers will be placed along Holmes Run trail, thanks to feedback city officials received from West End residents.

Between September and December 2012, more than 100 West End Alexandria residents gave comments to city officials about Holmes Run Park. Hundreds more residents gave comments on other parks, including Ben Brenman, Boothe and Chinquapin, according to Dana Wedeles, urban planner with the City of Alexandria.

The lit mile markers, which officials hope to have installed sometime this spring, are one of a few short-term park projects across the city.

“Through your feedback and the Park Improvement Plan, we hope to make many more informed budgetary and park use decisions so that Holmes Run Park can be an even greater asset to the community,” Wedeles said in an email to residents in the Holmes Run Park area.

City officials also distributed surveys to residents this fall, collecting 94 responses. (You can see the full document of survey results in the PDF in the media box above.)

Highlights from the survey:

70 percent of survey respondents use Holmes Run Park daily or weekly.

60 percent walk to Holmes Run Park, and another 19 percent bike, which “demonstrates how Holmes Run is considered a large park with a strong neighborhood use, attracting leisurely activity. It also implies the need to review safer pedestrian and cyclist access throughout the Park,” according to the survey report. 

The natural setting and trail were cited as the park’s best features by park users.

Through the survey, residents asked for increased police bike patrols (following a few sexual assaults in the area), removal of invasive plants and ivy, more playground equipment and better trail maintenance.

Going forward, the comments from residents will be combined with data to create draft recommendations for improving city parks. The process will eventually lead to a “Citywide Parks Improvement Plan,” according to Wedeles.

City officials will ask residents for comments again after the draft recommendations are complete later this year. 

Reports on the community input received about Ben Brenman Park and Boothe Park will be available sometime next week, Wedeles said.

See also: Mile Markers Proposed for Holmes Run Trail