VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A project decades in the making is one step closer to becoming a reality in Virginia Beach.
On Tuesday, Virginia Beach city leaders approved the use $14.9 million in federal funding to build the Virginia Beach Trail, a 12-mile paved path that will be open to pedestrians and cyclists alike. City council is directing nearly $3 million of local match funding to Virginia Beach Parks & Recreation for the project's first phase.
RELATED: Virginia Beach gets $14.9M federal grant to build section of 12-mile pedestrian, bicycle trail
The funding will be used to construct a three-mile stretch of the Virginia Beach Trail spanning from the western city limit line with Norfolk at Newtown Road eastward to the Town Center area.
It marks the first phase in the project to finish the remaining 10.5 miles of the west-to-east trail; the easternmost section has already been constructed in the Virginia Beach Oceanfront area.
This is something the cycling community has waited years for.
"I think the vast majority of us will approve of this," said Tim Woolford, a bike tech for Freedom Bike Works. "Moms and dads don't want to bring their kids in the middle of traffic to go cycling."
The project's first phase will include a pedestrian-bicycle bridge over ten lanes of Independence Boulevard to separate the trail from automobile traffic, according to the city's website.
In a previous interview with 13News Now, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg explained that the Virginia Beach Trail could have several benefits for people living in the city.
"We know that an investment in this separated trail — this bike and pedestrian trail — is an investment in the future of Virginia Beach," Buttigieg said. "It has a number of economic benefits, it can help with the vibrancy of the central business district, it's going to be great for people using it [and] it could even mean less congestion by giving people an alternative way to get around on shorter distances."
If approved, the trail could also connect with the proposed regional South Hampton Roads Trail that could run through Suffolk, Portsmouth, Norfolk and Chesapeake.