The Catharpin Greenway already runs through Dominion Valley Country Club, and James Long Regional Park already has more than four miles of wooded trail. Route 15 runs between them. Prince William County has approved close to $3 million for a trail that would pass under the highway and connect the two. Funding is settled. The project is on hold over a right-of-way question involving property owned by Burnside Farms, and as of the county's September 2026 project report it had not moved.
For anyone walking out from Dominion Valley Drive, the trail still stops at the shoulder of James Madison Highway. Here is what lies on each side of that gap, how the money was approved, and what is holding the link up.
Ten Miles Exist, and Dominion Valley Holds Part of Them
The county counts the Catharpin Greenway as a 10-mile system of natural-surface and stonedust trail. Its Find a Trail directory describes it this way:
"Currently, the trail exists mainly within the two regional parks and in Dominion Valley... Note that users cannot currently connect between Silver Lake and James Long without crossing Rt. 15."
The two regional parks are Silver Lake and James Long. Dominion Valley is the third place the county names, which makes the community one of the existing pieces of a larger network. The plan is bigger than the trail on the ground today. The county's greenways page describes a 17-mile system linking Silver Lake Regional Park, James Long Regional Park and Conway Robinson State Forest, with about 10 miles complete.
The county has also obtained a significant number of trail easements along the Catharpin Creek corridor for future connections. Much of the route is secured on paper. The Route 15 crossing is the part still open.
What Sits on the Far Side of Route 15
James S. Long Regional Park covers 230 acres in Haymarket. According to the county parks page, it has seven soccer fields, three of them lighted turf, plus four diamond fields with batting cages, two basketball courts, two tennis courts, a covered playground, and more than four miles of wooded natural-surface trail. The trail follows the Catharpin Creek valley over rolling ground with stream crossings, so it continues the same creek corridor the Greenway follows on the Dominion Valley side. County Parks directs trail users to park near the large playground. Horse-trailer parking is by the riding ring at the entrance.
Improvements are funded for the park too. The county's adopted FY2027 budget includes a one-time $1 million item for James Long infrastructure. It covers possible roadway and parking-pavement replacement, baseball-diamond upgrades and a permanent concession and restroom building. The budget does not give a schedule. The park is getting money for the people who drive in. The trail link would serve the people who arrive on foot.
The Money Came First
Funding for the crossing was approved before its route was settled. The Prince William Times reported that on Tuesday, June 24, the Board of County Supervisors approved $2.9 million to design and build a crossing at Catharpin Creek. It would connect the existing shared-use path on U.S. 15 at Dominion Valley Drive to James Long Park, and it would run under the highway. The same Prince William Times article said that "Catharpin Creek Greenway dead-ends at U.S. 15."
The vote was unanimous, and the money came from another Haymarket neighborhood. The paper reported that the funding comes from proffers tied to the rezoning for Carter's Mill, a 55-and-over community in Haymarket. The developer contributed $16,780 for each new single-family detached home and $15,425 for each single-family attached home toward transportation improvements. The adopted FY2027 budget lists the project at $2.9 million in developer proffers plus $67,714 in local funding, and states that its construction schedule is not yet determined. Nearly all of the money for the underpass comes from fees on homes built nearby.
From Funded to On Hold, Report by Report
The county tracks the project as Route 15 Trail at Catharpin Creek, project 25C17014. Its own capital-project reports show where it stalled:
- June 24 Board vote. Supervisors approve $2.9 million in Carter's Mill proffer funds for the crossing, as reported by the Prince William Times.
- May 11, 2026 report. Design is on hold "pending resolution of Right-of-Way impacts." The county and its consultant, JMT, are working on trail layouts with the least impact on Burnside Farms property. A modified layout with less impact on adjacent owners has gone to the district supervisor, and the district office will follow up with the Burnside Farms property owner. The May report lists the scope as still being determined.
- September 14, 2026 report. The September update gives a single line, "The project is currently on hold," with a budget of $2,967,714 in local funding.
Across those reports, the budget holds steady and the scope is the open item.
Two Burnside Farms Addresses
A trail running under U.S. 15 along Catharpin Creek needs land on both sides of the highway, which explains why the trail's route has to work around Burnside Farms property. The May report shows the county and its consultant drafting layouts with less impact on that property.
Burnside Farms keeps two separate properties. Its visitor FAQ explains that the Haymarket farm at 4905 James Madison Highway has no flowers and sells only Christmas trees, starting the day after Thanksgiving. The spring tulip festival and the summer sunflowers are held at the Nokesville farm on Kettle Run Road. James Madison Highway is Route 15, the same road the trail is trying to get under.
The Route 15 Edge This Season
Thanksgiving falls on November 26 this year, so by the farm's stated rule of "the day after Thanksgiving," tree sales at Burnside Farms' Haymarket farm start Friday, November 27. A Christmas tree isn't something you carry home on a trail, so most families will drive there on James Madison Highway past the spot where the Greenway stops.
For walkers this winter, the situation is the one the county directory describes. The Greenway runs through Dominion Valley and inside the two regional parks, and getting between them still means crossing Route 15. The more than four miles of creek-valley trail at James Long are reached by car from the Dominion Valley side for now. The county's most recent project report, dated September 14, 2026, lists the Route 15 Trail at Catharpin Creek as on hold.
Shannon Sheahan and the team at Washington Street Realty follow county project reports like these because they affect everyday life around Dominion Valley. If you'd like to talk about what the Route 15 projects mean for your part of Haymarket, schedule a consultation and we'll go over the latest county updates with you.
