Where the ERT Meets the ERP: A Connection that was Meant to Be

It’s not surprising that the Elizabeth River Trail Foundation and the Elizabeth River Project often get confused. We’re both great nonprofits doing really great work along the same watershed. We are, as you know, completely separate organizations with distinctly different missions; we do however, collaborate regularly and find times that our missions complement each other, and when one of our strengths can benefit the other, we partner together for good. That’s exactly what’s happening with the future Knitting Mill Creek Park right next to ERP’s Ryan Resilience Lab.  

We are so excited to be partnering with ERP’s Luisa Black Ellis on this park. While Elizabeth River Project has been designing the park with community input, the Elizabeth River Trail Foundation has long been working on an ERT route connection to the eco-corridor that will bring you right to the front door of Knitting Mill Creek Park! Using our trail standards manual, we will collaborate to bring our signature amenities like benches, picnic tables, bike racks and a bike repair station, as well as interpretive signage to this new community amenity. Our Master Planning committee is currently hard at work reviewing the best and safest routes to connect the existing trail to an eco-corridor loop at Colley Ave. We are excited to see this come together in 2027.