Some of the history of the Mount Vernon Trail is relayed in a 1990 federal study entitled “Paved Recreation Trails of the National Capital Region,”
“In 1972 civic groups around Mount Vernon petitioned that a recreational trail be installed along the Potomac shoreline parallel to the George Washington Memorial Parkway and south of the paved shoreline walkway that already existed between the Arlington Memorial and 14th Street bridges. Until 1970, cyclists travelled on the Parkway itself; on Sundays the northbound lanes were closed for use as a recreational route. The first section of new trail to be laid out continued south from the 14th Street bridges to Alexandria, weaving alongside National Airport.
Later in 1972, with strong political support, the rest of the trail to Mount Vernon was installed by park crew. Initially gravel, both sections were paved by 1975, often without desirable improvements in grading and alignment. To prevent erosion, the steepest slopes were the first areas paved. The bridges were made of locust posts, inspired by local wharf construction. Most of the trail, laid out before national bicycle trail standards were available, was designed to minimize the removal of trees. The final section of the Mount Vernon Trail near Alexandria was built in the late 1970s to minimize bicycle-motorist conflicts along West Drive. This followed a study and recommendations by Barton-Aschman Associates in 1977. In 1988 the final northern extension of the Mount Vernon Trail was completed from Memorial Bridge to Roosevelt Island. Today the trail has become the “flagship” of recreational trails thoughout the country, used to develop new trails standard and as a place to test materials.”
Details about the 1972 citizen effort were revealed in The Washington Post obituary (May 2, 2008) “Alexandria Waterfront Activist Ellen Pickering, 78.” It relayed Ms. Pickering’s efforts, “Another of her crusades was construction of the 18.5-mile Mount Vernon Trail. In the early 1970s, she not only pushed the National Park Service to approve the trail but also recruited volunteers to help spread the gravel.”
