First Phase of Abingdon Sidewalk Project Under Way

ABINGDON, Va. – Fresh concrete is being poured along Walden Road, meeting part of a long-term goal to refurbish and add sidewalks across town.

Complete with curbs and gutters, the sidewalks are part of a project that’s been in the works for more than a decade – to link neighborhoods and make Abingdon more walkable, said John Dew, director of public works.

“We’re getting a good start,” Dew said. “Piece by piece, they’re hoping they can fill in the [sidewalk] gaps.”

When the Walden Road stretch is complete, the new sidewalk, curb and gutter will run from White’s Mill Road to Grace Healthcare. That will mean uninterrupted sidewalks the length of Valley Street, around the dogleg and down Walden Road to property owned by the Washington County School Board.

Town officials are hopeful the school system will ultimately be able to connect a network of trails on its property, which includes a high school, middle school and other facilities, to the Walden Road sidewalk, Dew said.

Abingdon’s zoning ordinance requires the construction of sidewalks when a new subdivision is built, but for many years the ordinance was not enforced, Mayor Ed Morgan said. Sidewalks were seen as a convenience to the property owner rather than a part of the town’s transportation infrastructure, he said, but that has changed.

“Our perception as a council of what sidewalks and trails are all about is a whole lot different from what it was as number of years ago,” Morgan said.

Other streets, including Court, Bradley and White’s Mill Road, have been identified as areas that also would benefit from sidewalks sometime in the future. But building more sidewalks will take time, Morgan said, because it’s costly and time-consuming to retrofit old neighborhoods with new sidewalks. On Walden Road, for example, it’s costing a whopping $165 a linear foot, or more.

Town Manager Greg Kelly said the Walden Road sidewalk project is costing $406,429.

Morgan said through the process of doing the Walden Road project, town officials have learned about the difficulties of dealing with existing underground infrastructure, acquiring property or easements and removing trees – all of which must be done before construction starts.

While sidewalks will remain in the plan, Morgan said, it’s more likely that many areas of town will be connected with less-expensive walking paths, such as those already built to connect Depot Square with the Creeper Trail and to connect Jackson Street with existing sidewalks.

“We understand that it needs to be a priority,” Morgan said of sidewalks and trails. “Certainly people want it, but also walking is great for health, it’s important for the environment. … We have sort of an overall goal to make it possible to safely walk or ride a bicycle from any neighborhood to the heart of town.”

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