Wait. What. Just. Happened?!

kevinwa...@gmail.com

unread,

Dec 13, 2025, 7:02:24 AM (13 days ago) Dec 13

to whee...@googlegroups.com

I encourage everyone one to read the below & take action.

Kevin – K4

From: Kyle Lawrence, Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition <ky...@svbcoalition.org>
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2025 6:47 PM
To: Kevin <kevinwa...@gmail.com>
Subject: Wait. What. Just. Happened?!

͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌

Kevin, I don’t know about your week but mine’s been WILD in all the wrong ways.

The future of the Shenandoah Rail Trail is in jeopardy.

This Tuesday, I was livestreaming what I expected to be a routine, procedural meeting of the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB).😝

Instead, I watched a brand-new, destructive proposal appear out of thin air for the Shenandoah Rail Trail.

💥One that could mean the end of the Shenandoah Rail Trail you have supported.

Please take action right now to save the trail

If you do nothing else today, please click that link and send your message. It takes about a minute.

I Want to Save the Trail

What happened this week?

A proposal was presented to the CTB to: Transfer the Shenandoah Rail Trail project and all of its funding to another agency. 🤦‍♂️

Have that agency “grant” that money (non-competitively) for a “rail-with-trail” concept to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation.

That’s a major shift away from the stand-alone, ~49-mile Shenandoah Rail Trail our communities have been advancing, from Broadway to Front Royal.

And it happened without the public vetting or the community process this project has gone through for years.

😡Why should you be concerned?

This isn’t a theoretical policy debate. It’s a move that could stall (or effectively poison-pill) the Trail.

You can speak out against it today.

Here’s the problem:

State studies already found rail-to-trail conversion is feasible and widely supported.

VDOT found restoring rail AND adding a trail would would add complications & cost roughly four times more only a trail.

VDOT hasn’t finished the Phase 3 study’s promised public engagement.

Click to Save the Trail

Local leaders are raising the alarm:

Delegate Tony Wilt warned that a requirement to keep rail infrastructure in place could function as a “poison pill” that prevents any trail from being developed.

What I need you to say

🔊When you send your message (or write your own), please keep it simple:

Oppose transferring the Shenandoah Rail Trail project and funding at this time.
Support a stand-alone Shenandoah Rail Trail as the most realistic, achievable, and cost-effective option for our communities.
Let VDOT complete the promised public process before major decisions are made.

Again, here’s the link to Take Action Today

If you’ve already sent a message, thank you. Seriously.

⏩If you can do one more thing, forward this email to three people who care about the Valley.

We’ll keep you updated as we learn more about next steps (and any upcoming opportunities for public input).

Do you have questions? Ideas on what we should do?

Hit reply and let me know.

—

Kyle Lawrence

Executive Director

Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition

Ky...@SVBCoalition.org

(571) 277-8121

P.S. This project is still the one. If I had to pick one thing and drop everything else, I’d still pick the Shenandoah Rail Trail—because it’s transformative.

Click to Save the Trail

You can update your preferences or unsubscribe

image001.png

image002.png

image003.png

Robert Golightly

unread,

Dec 13, 2025, 8:09:44 AM (13 days ago) Dec 13

to whee...@googlegroups.com

The Shenandoah Battlefield Assc. Is a disgrace to the whole biking community. They are the group that took the mountain bike trails, that the Wheelmen worked for, at 3rd Battle of Winchester and closed them after they got their control of the park.

Never will a trail be built if they get their grubby hands on that grant money.

I do not support the Battlefield association in anyway.

All of these battlefields should be shutdown and revamped for the communities in which they are in to become community parks, playgrounds for kids and where families can go spend quality time.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Winchester Wheelmen" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to wheelmen+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/wheelmen/046201dc6c28%24555f68c0%24001e3a40%24%40gmail.com.

K Tenney

unread,

Dec 13, 2025, 4:45:33 PM (12 days ago) Dec 13

to whee...@googlegroups.com

Please do follow the links and read about this "end around" by the CTB and the SVBF. It does not pass the sniff test.

The Shenandoah Rail Trail has provided tools to reply and complain about this.

https://www.shenandoahrailtrail.org/news/project-ambushed-take-action

Ken Tenney for Winchester Wheelmen

On Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 08:09:46 AM EST, Robert Golightly <rgoligh...@gmail.com> wrote:

The Shenandoah Battlefield Assc. Is a disgrace to the whole biking community. They are the group that took the mountain bike trails, that the Wheelmen worked for, at 3rd Battle of Winchester and closed them after they got their control of the park.

Never will a trail be built if they get their grubby hands on that grant money.

I do not support the Battlefield association in anyway.

All of these battlefields should be shutdown and revamped for the communities in which they are in to become community parks, playgrounds for kids and where families can go spend quality time.

On Sat, Dec 13, 2025 at 7:02 AM <kevinwa...@gmail.com> wrote:

I encourage everyone one to read the below & take action.
Kevin – K4

From: Kyle Lawrence, Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition <ky...@svbcoalition.org>
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2025 6:47 PM
To: Kevin <kevinwa...@gmail.com>
Subject: Wait. What. Just. Happened?!

Kevin, I don’t know about your week but mine’s been WILD in all the wrong ways.

Reply all

Reply to author

Forward