A new report from the Virginia Department of Transportation finds that building a recreational trail alongside restored rail service in the Shenandoah Valley would require far more infrastructure work than converting the dormant rail corridor into a trail alone.

The Phase 2 Rail-With-Trail Assessment, released Friday, expands on the feasibility study VDOT completed in March. That first phase showed a trail could physically fit within the Norfolk Southern railroad right-of-way between Broadway and Front Royal. But it did not examine the condition of the 49-mile line or what it would take to rebuild it.

Phase 2 takes up that task.

“The results of Phase 2 demonstrate the complexities of a rail-with-trail version while outlining a strategy towards implementing this alternative,” the report

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