Fredericksburg Cyclists Start Petition Against Park Gravel
The gravel on Lee Drive has upset bicyclists and now the Fredericksburg Cyclists Club is trying to get people to sign a petition asking the Park Service to remove it from the popular exercise route.
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The Fredericksburg Cyclists Club has created an online petition to try to persuade the National Park Service to remove the gravel it recently dropped on Lee Drive that they believe causes safety and riding problems.
The petition reads that Lee Drive in the Fredericksburg Battlefield is a major attraction for tourists and local residents who use it to walk, jog, bicycle, drive or reflect on the Civil War.
The group's petition goes on to say that Lee Drive is part of the East Coast Greenway, a federally designated Millennium Trail that is also part of the U.S. Bike Route 1 interstate route. But, "the National Park Service, in violation of its own guiding principles, failed to consult the local community before recently applying asphalt and loose, pea gravel to a recently re-paved Lee Drive, purposefully creating an unsafe condition for cyclists, runners and walkers, alike."
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The club wants the National Park Service to remove the loose gravel from Lee Drive, and that it involves the community in the future before "taking future steps that degrade the community's ability to enjoy healthy recreation in its own park."
Russ Smith, superintendent of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields National Military Park, said last week that the chip and seal surface on Lee Drive is a safety measure to slow down traffic. He said the excess gravel will become compact over the next few weeks and that bicycles should not have any problems using Lee Drive. But he cautioned that the surface will be rougher to discourage higher speeds.
Smith said Tuesday that National Park Service staff and the contractors will look at Lee Drive at the end of this week to determine when to remove the loose gravel.
"It will probably be removed within two weeks. It will either be vacuumed up our brushed off," he said.
Terry Dorn, the club's president, said 135 signatures were on the petition as of Tuesday morning and many include additional comments. Olde Towne Bicycles also has a paper petition in support of the club's efforts, Dorn said.
Here are some of the comments left on the petition:
Sam Carolus-Hager on May 27, 2012 - the new surface has made it impossible to ride on lee drive. This is a public park, and to essentially bar cyclists just to enforce the speed limit on drivers is ridiculous.
Jamie Lindsay on May 27, 2012 - This is an outrage. Decisions made by Park employees without soliciting opinions from the USERS of the Parks is unprofessional and unforgivable. Making the peoples Parks less safe and less usable to all is contrary to your charge. Immediately removing all loose gravel is mandatory and never doing again unilaterally doing anything which directly impacts the public's access to the Park and its use should never happen again. The Parks do not belong to Park staff. You are there to preserve the Park for use by the owners and those who use them. This was a huge failure. FIX IT NOW!
Jennifer Cochran on May 28, 2012 - This action is unacceptable without the consultation and approval of the community.
L. Chris Hager on May 28, 2012 - This is a very dangerous pavement choice for a bicyclist. I would guess that over time you will see some law suits as a result. -L C. Hager-- former owner of a bike shop in Massachusetts.
William Evans on May 28, 2012 - "In the name of safety." You can't be serious. "Keeping the speeds down." This is merely a way to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to make the park "Old-time" for the 150th anniversary. You just never thought about the implications to the health-seeking community at large. By the way, that is NOT chip-seal as you call it. Flat-cut granite works into tar eventually, Round pea-gravel does not. Were you even aware of the "Moms and Strollers" workout group in the park? More people will be forced to be out on the open roads and does that take safety into consideration? As a historian and National Park fan, I am deeply disappointed.
Dan Telvock
11:43 am on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Russ Smith also said today that it was never an intention to leave the gravel on the road, so cyclists should know that.
tom licata
8:23 am on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Russ is double talking now. In prior emails he never mentioned it was temporary.
His failure is complete
Heather B
3:30 pm on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Now I'm confused. If there was never any intention to leave it we wasted how much of our tax dollars putting it there so he could remove it later?
Ben Fulton
3:44 pm on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Dan, Sounds like so many others that make poor professional decisions and instead of admitting fault they change their story to calm the storm. Superintendant Smith deserves to lose his position over this act of spiteful negligence.
Dan Telvock
4:00 pm on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Heather, the gravel covers over the chip-tar. the chip-tar stays but I will reconfirm
George Judd
9:52 pm on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Look closely at the road and how EXTREMELY uneven any of the gravel has or ever will work it's way into the asphalt. McCarty Rd near Forest Lane Rd (Co Rd 601) looks to have been done in similar fashion - its uneven, rough, and unsightly. Would be interested in any other roads in the area with a previous application and how less than 1/4 inch size pea gravel helped to slow traffic.
Amy K
11:58 am on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
I agree. It's only getting pushed into heaps on the road. I had to run in the 'lanes' which put me well into the road and not on the sides. The gravel is rather large sized for the spaces in which it is supposed to settle.
And there was still slow traffic and fast traffic and my feeling was the gravel made even the slow traffic worse to pedestrians because it is then in the air. It hurts to get hit by it.
Concerned
8:13 am on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
He closed off the battlefields to equestrians years ago because of his dislike for horses. Guess he decided to have the same prejudice for cyclists.
Russ Smith
9:06 am on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
1. I have always said that the loose gravel is temporary. It will be compacted by traffic and then the excess removed.
2. I have never closed off the battlefields to equestrians.
Russ
Ben Fulton
9:34 am on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Superintendent Smith, do you not understand you made a horrible decision? Do you not understand you are the most disliked person in Fredericksburg now because of this "keep the people out of my park" attitude? You purposely destroyed a newly paved road, (destruction of government property), to make the road dangerious for users. You are negligent in your duties and should be relieved. As a fellow Federal Land manager I am ashamed of what you did.
Dan Telvock
9:51 am on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Most disliked person in Fredericksburg? Come on, Mr. Fulton. With all due respect, Mr. Smith is a likeable guy. I like you, Russ!
Amy K
11:42 am on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
I will be signing the petition. As a cyclist, a surface of round gravel is simply unacceptable for a bike. To say it will meld into the one below cannot be correct; it is a layer of uniformly sized round stones that are a nightmare for anything moving on it – feet or wheels. I visited Chancellorsville Battlefield Park Visitor's Center Sunday in a search of a new park to cycle in and when I asked for an explanation for the decision to cover Lee Park's perfectly fine surface with a layer of pea gravel, I was told it was for my safety to slow down auto traffic. I was dumbstruck because how would this benefit me as a cyclist when I can now no longer ride there?
I decided to give benefit to doubt and try running there. What I found was a sad sight: I was one of only four exercisers in the park between approximately 10 and noon - two weeks ago I lost count at 30. The air above the road was hazy with gravel dust that rose from auto traffic even at slow speeds - this didn't happen when it was paved. Gravel was in my shoes. It was slippery. And to be honest getting hit by gravel bits by vehicles even politely driving by at appropriate speed and distance was painful.
This was a great park – safe, quiet, beautiful and historic. The surface treatment is obviously turning people away. I don't understand why speed humps couldn't have been installed to slow down road traffic or shoulders widened. Please remove the gravel and return the surface to its former smoothly paved condition.
Kim
12:43 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Where is the link for the petition? I would like to sign it. I always looked forward to my peaceful drive through the parkway but that no longer exists with the bumpy ride and the dust of fellow drivers; and all of that is minor to the fact I can't take my stroller on a leisurely walk or run without implication. The first day that the gravel was lain no one had signs up so when my brother rounded the bend from the boulevard onto the parkway he was sent flying. So thank you very much park service for ruining our park and injurying our loved ones.
Amy K
9:35 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Not sure it's online - I went to Olde Towne Bicycles in Fredericksburg to sign it in person.
Ben Fulton
5:33 am on Thursday, May 31, 2012
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/lee_drive/
Greg Young
3:39 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
The park should be honest about trying to discourage the recreational use they feel is against the enabling legislation or intended use of the park.
A Concerned Citizen
4:53 pm on Friday, June 1, 2012
This certainly seems to fly in the face of the Park Service's, "Healthy Parks, Healthy People Initiative".
From the National Park website:
1 - We promote health and well-being as an interrelated system linking human health to natural landscapes and all species;
2 - We seek expertise and resources from a wide range of partners in the public and private sectors;
3 - Our aim includes activities that contribute to physical, mental and spiritual health, and social well being;
4 - Our work takes place both within and beyond park boundaries;
5 - We encourage uses that promote the health of all species while avoiding those that impair resources;
6 - We seek to provide equitable access to open spaces and natural places;
7 - Our commitment to improving public health will be mirrored in internal programs for our workforce.
http://www.nps.gov/public_health/hp/hphp.htm