During his Mayor's report at the regular Town Council meeting March 4, Frank Etro briefed the rest of the Town Council about progress on the trail between the Round Hill Town Park and Franklin Park. Key points of his report follow:

• The county has finalized the alignment of the trail. It will begin at the Round Hill Town Park and travel along East Loudoun Street to Newberry Crossing, up the asphalt path through the underpass under Rt. 7. From there it will skirt Sleeter Lake through the Oak Hill development to Marbury where it will return to Rt. 7 for several hundred feet before turning south into the back entrance of the park.
• The county reports that it is within the budget to build the part of the trail within town boundaries to the specifications outlined by the Franklin Park Trail subcommittee of the Streetscape Committee.
• There is potentially room in the budget to bury electrical conduit in the sidewalks.
• The county budget may also be able to pay for streetlights along East Loudoun Street if they can convince Oak Hill to build the part of the trail through that development at the required 8-foot width.
• The county is considering burying electrical lines between Marbury and the park road.
• The county hopes to put the project out to bid for construction to begin next spring and be completed before school starts in Sept. 2005.