u/MountVernonTrail

The Mount Vernon Trail has been nominated to join the Rails to Trails Conservancy's Trail Hall of Fame. It's competing against the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath in Ohio and the Historic Battlefield Trail in Texas.

The winner will be chosen based on voting through August 16th. Check out the competitors and vote at https://secure.railstotrails.org/site/SPageNavigator/2026_HOF_Vote.html

You can vote more than once, so if you have a few minutes to submit a few votes for the Mount Vernon Trail, we'd greatly appreciate it. Please feel free to share with any friends or groups who enjoy the MVT and want to help us continue bringing more attention and resources to the trail.

If you haven't gone through the Mount Vernon Trail detour at Gravelly Point, Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail have a video of it up at https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbTWvHGupmF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

The detour opened on July 15th and will run through 2030 for construction. The project team has been great and provides us with frequent updates which we'll post on all of our socials.

Starting July 1st through 2030, the Mount Vernon Trail will be detoured just north of Gravelly Point. The detour supports construction of the Long Bridge Project which will expand passenger rail capacity and also build a new 16 foot wide bike and pedestrian bridge that connects the Mount Vernon Trail with Long Bridge and East Potomac Park.

There will be a short section of the detour where the trail narrows to 7 feet wide underneath the existing rail bridge. This is approximately the same width as the 14th St Bridge path.

Please note that:

• The trail will remain open at all times.
• Follow posted detour signs.
• Reduce speeds and watch out for other trail users and construction workers.
• Stay outside of construction zones.
• Expect periodic crossings of equipment and materials where the trail meets the construction access road.

You can keep up to date with Mount Vernon Trail news by following us on multiple platforms.

Map of detour route for the Mount Vernon Trail at Gravelly Point

Trail alignment underneath existing rail bridge.

NPS replaced the Mount Vernon Trail benches on the portion of the trail on Columbia Island last week. They're still the same style bench but the wood is now painted black instead of brown.

A picture of a black bench on a concrete pad on the Mount Vernon Trail.

The Mount Vernon Trail has been reopened near the power plant. A detour was in place for the last 6 weeks so I a contractor could fix shoreline erosion that was threatening a collapse of the trail. The shoreline is now reinforced with some very large rocks.

https://preview.redd.it/o4bqbwdgfcyg1.png?width=1536&format=png&auto=webp&s=7a60bc43616913de21bfeb236e667033ccc7027a