Virginia Beach's Town Center, a burgeoning mixed-use urban center and a portion of the Pembroke Strategic Growth Area, is bounded on the south and east by Thalia Creek, a tributary of the Lynnhaven River. Thalia Creek forms a beautiful, natural buffer between Town Center and the nearby residential neighborhoods, but is also a barrier to active travel. A vision for a greenway along Thalia Creek first started up in the mid-90s with two broad goals:
- Improve pedestrian access between Town Center and the neighborhoods; and
- Open up the Thalia Creek corridor for the enjoyment of citizens on both sides.
A greenway is a linear corridor of protected open space, often including trails and following natural land and/or water features linking parks, urban centers and residential districts with each other.
The City worked with consultants and an active community through 2006 and 2007 to develop the Thalia Creek Greenway Master Plan. View the concept plan below (click image to view larger):
Development of the Thalia Creek Greenway will occur in multiple phases.
Phase 1 - Completed
The builder of Midtown Apartments built approximately 300 feet of the trail in 2009 as a part of the private development.
A foot bridge from Constitution Drive to Midtown Apartments was built in 2011 with cost savings from the Constitution Drive extension project. It is 10’ wide, 435' long and uses LED lighting for nighttime use.
Phase 2 - Under Construction
The City was awarded from VDOT $640,000 in June 2012 to construct Phase 2. Construction is now underway and will connect the western trail limit of Phase 1, continue along Thalia Creek and ending at Bonney Road. Construction is anticipated to be complete Summer 2019.
Phase 3 - Under Design
The City was awarded a $1,000,000 grant from VDOT in June 2015 for Phase 3 of the Thalia Creek Greenway. Upon completion of Phase 2 construction, the City will move forward with construction of Phase 3 of the trail which will continue the trail from Phase 2 to Independence Boulevard. Construction completion is expected in 2020.
Additional Future Connections
The 2007 Master Plan includes a continuation of the trail from the existing eastern limit, crossing on Constitution Drive and connecting to the former NSRR Corridor then up to Virginia Beach Boulevard. See the project description for the Virginia Beach Trail which proposes to construct a 10.5 mile shared use path within the former NSRR Corridor and, therefore, becoming a northern loop of the Thalia Creek Greenway. Future master planning also includes a connection across Bonney Road to Mount Trashmore via a bridge over I-264, thus, providing a valuable pedestrian connection linking both areas as envisioned in the master plan and Pembroke SGA Plan. To date, the nearest pedestrian crossing is at the busy interchanges of Independence Boulevard and Rosemont. As well as the VDOT funded project to add a complete sidewalk connection along the west side of Independence Boulevard through the I-264 Interchange, from Baxter to Bonney Road.