Thursday, April 11, 2013
A bridge at the Chambliss Street crossing will increase connectivity with Fairfax County trails.
Holmes Run will soon have a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the waterway, this one at the Chambliss Street crossing on the western end of Dora Kelley Nature Park. The construction is part of a multi-year project and part of the city’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Mobility Plan recommendations, said Carrie Sanders, Alexandria’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Program manager. The bridge is being installed to connect to Fairfax County pedestrian and bicycle trails. The Alexandria trail along Holmes Run currently ends at the western end of Dora Kelley. Work is also taking place to restore the stream bed at the same location, which has been damaged in past storms and shows erosion. The project will stabilize the bank using boulders and vegetation. …
Friday, March 15, 2013
Elizabeth Wright, chairwoman of the Holmes Run Park Committee, thanks city staff.
To the Editor, Thank you for the excellent coverage of the Holmes Run Trail's use as a valued pedestrian byway on March 8th. As witnessed last week, the trail is used as a dedicated commuter transportation route, not only for recreational use. This Saturday the Alexandria Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) chose the Holmes Run Trail as the location for the monthly bike ride. Billed as a family friendly ride, two blind cyclists have requested "lead captains" for their respective tandem bikes. Last week I cycled the trail looking for trail hazards in view of potential child and blind cyclists. As usual, after a heavy rain, excess gravel and sand had washed onto the trail in the Van Dorn and I-395 tunnels. I sent a request via …
Friday, March 8, 2013
A new bridge would serve pedestrians and cyclists who cross the waterway near North Ripley Street, while tunnel improvements will keep walkway dry.
Elizabeth Wright was standing by the Holmes Run Trail crossing near North Ripley Street—a low concrete walkway that had water rushing overtop it Thursday—when a woman approached to pass. “You can come through, unless it’s too wet,” Wright, the chairwoman of the Holmes Run Park Committee, told the woman. The woman then hiked up her pants legs and walked through more than an inch of fast-moving water to reach the other bank. But pedestrians and cyclists will soon be able to keep dry when they cross Holmes Run at North Ripley Street or walk along the bank near Interstate 395. The city plans to construct a pedestrian bridge at the crossing and redesign the tunnels that allow cyclists and pedestrians to cross under I-395 and North Van Dorn …
Thursday, March 7, 2013
The new sewer line under the waterway should be completed in May.
The $1.5 million Holmes Run sewer project is scheduled to be completed in May after several delays along the way. Construction crews have—temporarily—destroyed the creek banks on both sides of Holmes Run near the intersection of Holmes Run Parkway and North Paxton Street. Workers are replacing a sewer line that was destroyed in September 2011 during Tropical Storm Lee, when large flows washed out base material underneath the sewer pipe. The line belongs to the Fairfax County Department of Wastewater Management. Brendan Schillo, a county wastewater design and construction project engineer, said the storm bent the 36-inch pipe and broke it in half, causing Holmes Run to flow into the sewer system. First, it took the city of Alexandria and …
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
An Alexandria resident has been indicted by a grand jury in connection with an attempted October attack near Holmes Run Parkway.
Roger Lewis, 25, an Alexandria City resident, has been indicted by a grand jury on one count of attempted rape, two counts of attempted sodomy and one count of sexual battery, Alexandria Police have reported. There is enough evidence for the jury to believe Lewis may be connected to the attempted sexual assault Oct. 2 near the 5300 block of Holmes Run Parkway. Patch reported in October that a woman was walking in a wooded area just south of the creek around 9:45 p.m. near the community garden area, accordingto police. A man approached her, grabbed her and pulled her into a secluded area. The woman was able to break free and run away. Lewis is being held at the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center without bond. See also: Pedestrian …
Friday, October 26, 2012
Director Mark Kelly of the Jerome “Buddie” Ford Nature Center calls number of sightings ‘extremely unusual.’
West End Alexandria residents have reported four copperhead snake sightings in recent months, including one incident in which a copperhead bit a dog at Dora Kelley Nature Park. The owner was walking the medium-sized dog at dusk last week on a paved trail in the park when it suddenly fell down and began howling and moaning, said Director Mark Kelly of the Jerome “Buddie” Ford Nature Center on Sanger Avenue. The owner took the dog to a local veterinarian, who shaved the dog’s paw and found two puncture wounds indicative of a copperhead bite. The dog was treated, kept overnight and has since recovered. Copperhead bites, while poisonous, are usually not fatal to adults but are more dangerous for children and small pets, Kelly said. In the past…
Monday, October 15, 2012
Drawing the line between reasonable precautions and "stranger danger" madness is a real challenge.
Our neighborhood seems pretty safe. The neighbors in our Beauregard corridor apartment complex are quiet. I see lots of children playing outside by day. Fancy it ain't, but I see less loitering and fewer police cars by night in my rental community than I did in the neighborhood where we owned our townhouse in Maryland. My husband and I differ on whether it's safe for our 10-year-old daughter to play outside unsupervised after school. I tend to believe she'll be fine. Her father doesn't like the fact that we don't have a line of sight from our apartment to the playground. If my better half learns about the recent attacks on women in Holmes Run Park, our daughter can probably forget being allowed out on her own until she's my age. It's not …
Friday, October 12, 2012
Incident is not believed to be connected to Holmes Run attacks.
Alexandria police are investigating a sexual assault that occurred at about 11:30 p.m. Thursday near the intersection of Van Dorn Street and Courtney Avenue. A 20-year-old city resident told police she was walking from the intersection of Eisenhower Avenue and Van Dorn Street when she was approached by a man, who displayed a knife and demanded money. The woman told the man she didn’t have any money, according to police reports. Police reports said he then grabbed the victim and pulled her over a guardrail and into the bushes, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her. The man then ran from the area, heading north toward South Pickett Street, according to police reports. The suspect is described as Hispanic; in his late 20s or early 30s; …
Two women were assaulted at the park within the past month.
Alexandria police say they are making progress in the investigation into two attacks on women at Holmes Run Park within the past month. Alexandria Deputy Police Chief Hassan Aden, speaking Thursday evening at a meeting of the Seminary Hill Association, said police are patrolling the greenway 24 hours a day. “We do have various strategies that are in place,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of detectives that are working on this case, and without giving too much information, because it is sensitive, we’re moving forward very fast, and we’re making progress on the issue.” Earlier this week, Alexandria police Lt. Mark Bergin told the Holmes Run Park Committee that police on foot, on bicycles and in patrol cars are stepping up their presence at the …
Friday, October 5, 2012
Two assaults have been reported within the past month at the park.
Police on foot, on bicycles and in patrol cars are stepping up their presence at Holmes Run Park following two attempted sexual assaults in the park within the past month. Alexandria police Lt. Mark Bergin told the Holmes Run Park Committee, which met Thursday evening at the Beatley Library, that the department is taking the attacks very seriously. “These kinds of assaults, attempted rape and the woman who was grabbed, which may have been a precursor to sexual assault, are very rare in Alexandria,” he said. “They do happen.” Police are spending extra funds to add additional patrol officers in the area. For at least the next two weeks, and maybe longer, officers will walk the area on foot from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., Bergin said. Officers from …
Allen Muchnick
1:03 am on Friday, April 12, 2013
The most useful aspect of this new crossing of Holmes Run is its linking of two segments of N. Chambliss St which are currently separated by the creek. That will provide a pleasant, low-traffic bicycling alternative to busy and hilly N Beauregard St between Seminary Rd and Lincolnia Rd. more ›