 | The Bike Trail |  |
The Telling Details
Most recent update is at the bottom of this page
As reported by BRIAN NADIG in the August 24, 2003 edition of "The Reporter"
The construction of an approximately 1-mile bicycle path along a former railroad line between Devon Avenue and Bryn Mawr Avenue in Sauganash will result in the two viaducts being replaced with bicycle/pedestrian bridges.
One of the viaducts to be removed is on Peterson Avenue about a block east of Kostner Avenue, and the other is on Rogers Avenue about 2 blocks south of Peterson.
Long-range plans call for the new path, which will be called the "Valley Line Trail," to be continued into the northern suburbs, including Lincolnwood and Skokie.
City Department of Transportation planning director Luann Hamilton said that the path will located along a former Union Pacific Railroad line whose tracks were removed during the early 1990s. She said that Union Pacific sold the property to Commonwealth Edison, which will be leasing a portion of its right-of-way to the City of Chicago.
The right-of-way is east of Kostner at Bryn Mawr, and it skirts the east edge of Sauganash Park before curving west to strike Devon just west of Kostner.
Hamilton said that the asphalt path will be 12 feet wide with gravel shoulders on both sides. She said that, in response to initial feedback from some community leaders, it will have an access point from Sauganash Park and likely from two other places in the residential neighborhood in addition to the access areas at the end points. Hamilton said that, from Bryn Mawr, an on-street connector route leads east to the Lakefront, while bicyclists can take Devon west to reach the North Branch Trail which starts at Devon and Caldwell and which leads to the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe.
The estimated cost of installing the Valley Line Trail in Sauganash, including the removal of the viaducts, is about $1.8 million, Hamilton said. The project is being funded in part from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement Program, she said.
Hamilton said that community input will be sought on the design of the two bicycle/pedestrian bridges, which have included decorative arches in other parts of the city. She said that the bridges will be built off-site and transported to the sites for installation and that they will have a higher clearance than the existing viaducts.
The initial meeting regarding the bike trail was held on July 31, 2002 and the property was resurveyed at the end of August 2002.
As of September 23, 2003
Representatives from the Association attended the meeting held at the Sauganash Park Fieldhouse by Alderman Laurino. It was well attended. Janet, the director of Streetscaping and Design attended the meeting along with Luann Hamilton from Rails-to-Trails, Pat Sanchez from ComEd and other consultants.
There, there were pictures, aerial photographs and many illustrations depicting the bike trail. During the meeting, the following details were made clear.
- Construction is to commence in Summer 2004.
- The city anticipates it will take 4 months to finish the project. The pre-fabricated pedestrian bridges along Rogers Avenue and Peterson Avenue will be the first to be done.
- The bike trail is going to be 22 feet wide. This is made up of:
- 2 feet of clear area on both sides (which will be grass)
- 3 feet of a running trail in both directions (which will be gravel and has not yet been funded by the City of Chicago) and
- 6 feet of bike path in both directions (which will be pavement).
- Representatives from the city and rails-to-trails have been working on this project for two years.
- The current plan was to have key points of access along the way (i.e., Hollywood & Lowell Avenues).
- The new bridge structures mentioned above will be opened up to make the street underneath them wider and the sidewalk at Rogers is going to be fixed.
- The idea is to have the trail used for Cross Country skiing in the winter.
- In keeping tradition with the Rails-to-Trails program, the main trail will have no lighting and will be open in accordance with Chicago Park District hours (i.e., dawn to dusk) and Chicago Park District ordinances.
- Being subject to Chicago Park District ordinances means:
- The City will no longer have to receive ComEd's permission to go on to their land to make an arrest or investigate circumstances.
- These ordinances are very strict and will offer a higher level of security than what currently exists.
- Being subject to Chicago Park District ordinances means:
- The bike trail is going to be accessible to Chicago park district, police and emergency services vehicles and they are working on a solution to prevent other non-bicycle vehicles from accessing it.
- The bike trail is being made possible by ComEd. They are leasing part of their land to the city for 20 years at no cost. The Chicago Park District will maintain the bike path and ComEd will maintain the remaining right-of-way.
- The city has turned in the drawings of the project to the State of Illinois and they are awaiting a reply.
- The city has talked to nearby areas (i.e., Skokie - who has also applied for CMAQ funds) to see if a continuation of the trail can be arranged. They plan on talking to Lincolnwood in the future.
These were the issues that the community thinks the City needs to addressed. If you have any issues, please email us and we will pass them on to the Alderman.
- Trash receptacles along the path
- People who have signed Lawn & Garden licenses with ComEd
- Making sure that there are no conflicting interests with those that own adjacent rights-of-way
- Reduction in the number of access points to and from the trail
- Ensure the elevation of the Rogers Avenue bridge does not get raised so United Van Lines trucks can use Rogers Ave as a thoroughfare.
- Ensure that non-city vehicles will not have access to the trails.
- They would like police officers to visit the bike trail at least once or twice a night.
- Insertion of location/distance markers along the trail to make reporting issues to police easier and easier for police to locate problems.
As of December 5, 2003
The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) recently submitted plans for design elements of the Valley Line Bike Trail In response to community concerns raised at the September 23, 2003 public meeting, CDOT is recommending several modifications to the design presented at the meeting.
At the September meeting, one of our residents suggested adding identification markers along the trail. CDOT agreed with this suggestion and will be adding street address markers along the path to assist users and workers.
At all access points to the path, drop bollards with lock and key will be placed at the entrances. Emergency services personnel will have the key to unlock the fencing bollards allowing them to enter the bike path in case of emergency.
Several people raised concerns about the number of access points on the trail, suggesting that CDOT consider eliminating one of the entrances. CDOT studied the access points on
On the other hand, formalizing
The remaining access points, which will be handicapped accessible, will be located where the trail crosses Devon Avenue, Bryn Mawr Avenue, Thome Avenue and at Sauganash Park (for which lighting is planned).
As of February 22, 2004
Department of Transportation spokeswoman Maria Castaneda said that identification markers such as numbers or street names would be installed along the path. She said that the markers would assist police in locating someone who is needs assistance.
Long-range plans also have the trail being extended into Skokie and south to Foster Avenue.
She said a community meeting on the final plans would be held before they are submitted for review to the Illinois Department of Transportation, which oversees the federal grant.
The city is still negotiating a lease with ComEd, the owner of the former railroad right-of-way. "We can't go further without having that squared away," Castaneda said, adding the lease will be for $1.
As of July 13, 2004
Construction of the bike trail is expected in spring of 2005. The Alderman's office is sending us a map of the trail. As soon as it is received, we will have it posted to our web site.
As of April 26, 2005
The bike trail is going to be delayed another year due to budgetary concerns regarding the beautification of the entrance area, along with the cost of having to raise the grade (elevation) of the bike trail. The beautification was a push by the Alderman. Raising the grade of the trail was a result of additional land surveys that were made in the past year. Definition: To "raise the grade" is when the engineers of the bike trail change the degree of inclination of the trail to make it steeper. We guess there are certain part(s) of the trail that probably go downhill too much and may be dangerous (especially when close to a street or bridge, etc.)
The construction will now begin any time from this winter to Summer 2006.
As of September 25, 2005
Sauganash bike path work expected to start next fall
by BRIAN NADIG
Construction of the Valley Line Trail bicycle path, which will run along former railroad right-of-way near Kostner Avenue between Devon Avenue and Bryn Mawr Avenue in Sauganash, is expected to start by the fall of next year and be completed within a year of that time.
The city Department of Transportation is considering opening the path in phases, allowing for some sections of the approximately 1-mile trail to become available for use by mid-2007. The $1.8 million project also calls for bicycle/pedestrian bridges to replace a railroad viaduct on Peterson Avenue about a block east of Kostner and another on Rogers Avenue about 2 blocks south of Peterson.
Department spokesman Brian Steele said that construction had been tentatively scheduled to start this year but that planning for it took longer than expected. He said that the Illinois Department of Transportation recently approved the conceptual design for the project and that a consultant will be hired to oversee the final design and engineering phase.
Plans call for to the trail to have access points at Devon, Bryn Mawr, Hollywood Avenue and Thome Avenue and at Sauganash Park. An additional entrance at Lowell Avenue was eliminated from the proposal last year after residents complained that some of the access points were too close to homes.
Steele said that at the request of residents, the project is being modified so that the access point at Devon will contain additional
landscaping and other elements so that it can serve as a gateway to Sauganash. "It will be a little more defined and a little more prominent," he said.
The city plans to lease the right-of-way from its current owner, Commonwealth Edison, for $1 a year. The right-of-way is east of Kostner at Bryn Mawr and skirts the east edge of the park before curving west to cross Devon just west of Kostner.
Long-range plans call for the trail to be extended into the northern suburbs. But for now, the trail will allow bicyclists to use an on-street connector route to travel east from Bryn Mawr toward the Lakefront, while from Devon bicyclists will be able to travel west to the start of the North Branch trail at Devon and Caldwell avenues.
City Council panel OKs bike-trail plan
Published February 1, 2006Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
The city hopes to turn over a 3 1/2-mile stretch of the Major Taylor Bike Trail, named for a turn-of-the century African-American bicyclist, to the Chicago Park District. The city acquired the land from Conrail.
The Major Taylor Trail takes cyclists south from Chicago's Dawes Park at 81st Street and Damen Avenue to Cook County's Whistler Woods in south suburban Riverdale. The 3 1/2-mile stretch proposed for Park District ownership runs from 105th through 129th Streets.
In the mid-1990s, the city completed the first Rails to Trails project with the Burnham Greenway Trail running through the Southeast Side.
The third Rails to Trails project will run from Bryn Mawr and Kostner Avenues to Kostner and Devon Avenue, where it will join an existing trail. The Valley Line Trail is set to open by summer 2007, said Brian Steele, spokesman for Chicago Department of Transportation.
The goal is to have "an extensive network of off-road trails in Chicago," said Luann Hamilton of the Transportation Department. She said a new citywide plan for bike trails is being drafted.
As of September 17, 2006
Work might begin soon on Sauganash bike trail
by COLLEEN McBRIEN - The Reporter
Work on the Valley Line Trail bicycle path, which will be built in Sauganash on the former Chicago & North Western railroad right-of-way, could begin by the end of the year, according to the city Department of Transportation.
The approximately 1-mile-long section of unused right-of-way runs from Devon Avenue east of Kostner Avenue north past Sauganash Park, and then curves west to cross Devon Avenue west of Kostner. An unpaved path on the right-of-way already exists north of Devon in Lincolnwood.
Department spokeswoman Maria Castaneda said that plans for the 22-foot-wide multi-use path are being reviewed by the state Department of Transportation, which will use federal funds from the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program to pay for the project. Once IDOT approves the plans, bids will be sought for the estimated $1.8 million project.
Castaneda said that, depending on IDOTs approval, the project could begin this year and could be completed by early next summer.
As of December 17, 2006
The federal funds from the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program were not approved / revoked.
Published June 24, 2007
Bike paths to nowhereTo cyclists' frustration, interruptions and dead ends mark many trails in the Chicago area
By Dan Gibbard
Tribune staff reporter
Unwinding for mile after scenic mile, the Chicago area's nationally recognized web of bike trails carries riders to realms far from city streets, to sun-splashed lakefront, industrial vistas and forests that seem light-years from civilization.
But gaps in those same trails can jolt cyclists back to reality. Some paths dead-end. Others dump riders into parking lots or side roads. Often, there is another bike path nearby, but getting to it can mean braving a ride in a gutter alongside rushing cars and trucks.
"All of a sudden you're not in a forest preserve anymore, you're on a busy, busy street," said Bob Friend of Riverwoods, whose pet peeve is a dead end in the Des Plaines River Trail, near Lincolnshire, which requires a detour along Milwaukee Avenue. "The only word I can really think of is frustrating."
As public officials try to close these gaps in their dream of a regional network of bike paths, they are finding that the last mile is often the hardest. Small spans present big obstacles that may take decades to overcome: lack of money for bridges, tunnels and land; property owners who don't want to sell; towns that either don't want paths or have other priorities.
"Part of the reality is we've done the easy stuff, and now we have the hard stuff," said Nick Jackson, deputy director of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. "The gaps take a lot more work than the trails themselves."
Among dozens of missing connections, Chicago's Lakefront Path ends abruptly near multilane Hollywood Avenue to the north. The south end of the North Branch Trail leaves riders stranded at the busy intersection of Caldwell and Devon Avenues. The Illinois & Michigan State Canal Trail stops and starts at biker-unfriendly points such as Illinois Highway 83 near Lemont Road and 135th Street on the outskirts of Romeoville.
It's not simply about recreation. The area has added hundreds of miles of trails in the last 20 years, and it has become clear that tying those trails together has the potential to create a new transportation network, planners say, largely separate from road, rail and waterway.
"We want to provide community connectivity, so people can make short trips easily," said Tom Murtha of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. "It's important that people have a lot of [transportation] options."
Benefits, he said, include cutting car and truck traffic, reducing emissions, saving gasoline and providing exercise for bike commuters.
Funding key to linked system
A growing awareness of the benefits of alternative transportation helped open the federal spigot in the early 1990s, Murtha said. That funding has been critical to the creation of the trail system, he said, but there still is not always enough to build that last bridge or buy that last piece of property.
Also, there are owners who either don't wish to sell or are holding out for more money, including the owner of the last half-mile of property along the Des Plaines River Trail in Lake County, a 33-mile path that continues in Cook County. Lake County has been reluctant to use eminent domain to acquire the land, a decision with which some residents disagree.
"Eminent domain is not a policy that should be undertaken lightly," said Friend, an attorney. "But in rare exceptions, like when you have one parcel holding up 50 miles of trail linkage, that's the time to do it."
The paths aren't for every rider -- many "roadies" prefer the direct routes and fast pavement of the streets, but there are legions of recreational riders and commuters who aren't comfortable riding at the mercy of cars and trucks.
"There are a lot of people who have licenses but can't drive," said Barron Hooper Sr. of Chicago's Beverly neighborhood. "It's just too dangerous."
Hooper, 44, had to turn his bike around at the end of the South Side's new Major Taylor Trail as it dead-ended at a parking lot in the Whistler Woods Forest Preserve near Riverdale. "It's crazy. It'd be nice if they went all the way downtown. It would save on gas," he said.
That dream is a tall order.
"Our overall goal is to create as many continuous connections as possible," said Brian Steele, spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation. "[But] you're dealing with a 150-year-old city, a tightly congested urban area, so in a lot of places [there is] a lack of land."
Lack of land an obstacle
The city plans to unveil a master plan for bike trails this year and has tried hard in recent years to link trails with bike lanes and better signs, he said. Abandoned rail beds have been converted into paths, including the soon-to-be-constructed Valley Line Trail along Kostner Avenue from Devon to Bryn Mawr Avenue, Steele said.
In other places, though, the land problems could be intractable, such as at the north end of the Lakefront Path, which ends at a rocky shoreline. There, cyclists can either turn around or brave the narrow, crowded streets around Loyola University -- a situation not likely to change any time soon because all the lakefront property is privately owned, Steele said.
Things are more promising to the south, where officials hope eventually to link the Lakefront Path with the Burnham Greenway, which could open up the entire south side of the metro area, including Indiana. There are also plans to link the Major Taylor with a planned trail along the Cal-Sag Channel from Torrence Avenue to the Centennial Trail near Lemont.
"In not so many years, people will be able to bike from Chicago to Joliet almost exclusively on off-road trails," Murtha said. "One piece after another, we're putting this network together."
In the suburbs, there is a different set of obstacles.
More land is available, but paths can upset some homeowners. It took 20 years to plan and build the Old Plank Road Trail, which runs from Joliet to southern Cook County, said Bruce Hodgdon, spokesman for the Will County Forest Preserve District.
"[People worried] that gangs from Joliet were going to get on their bikes, rape and pillage in New Lenox, then ride back to Joliet with a big-screen TV on the back of their bike," he said.
Now, Hodgdon said, "There's been a 180-degree shift in sentiment. ... People are seeing this as a real asset to the community."
Other issues have priority
Funding is always an issue. Trails can cost $1 million a mile to build -- and bridges millions more -- at a time when budgets are tight and education, health care and other forms of transportation compete for money.
Yet there has been progress.
After trying for years, Lake County has gotten a railroad's permission to tunnel under a set of tracks near Lake Bluff, allowing the Skokie Valley Trail to link to the North Shore Path, which runs along Illinois Highway 176.
Joliet, meanwhile, recently celebrated the opening of a short stretch of the Joliet Junction Trail that links it to the I&M Canal Trail, Hodgdon said.
Then there is the Centennial Trail, which has spent more than a decade on maps as a dotted-line "planned trail" from Lyons to Lemont. Construction bids are being solicited, Cook County officials said, and work could soon begin to link the southwest suburbs to the I&M Canal Trail, among others.
And cyclists, when given the chance, are making their voices heard. At a meeting in April, more than 100 people packed a room in Northbrook to hear more about a project to use an abandoned rail bed to extend the south end of the Skokie Valley Trail from Lake-Cook Road to Glenview Road, linking it with the North Branch Trail.
"People came out in droves because they are excited about this stuff," said the bicycle federation's Jackson. "I think there's a real demand for more transportation options [and] it can help knit communities back together. I heard that a lot."
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dgibbard@tribune.com
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
June 14, 2007
Valley Line Trail construction might get started in July
By ALAN SCHMIDT Staff Writer
After repeatedly being told through the years that work on the Valley Line Trail would start soon, Sauganash residents might see construction crews laying down the trail in early July, said a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Transportation.
The fully-funded, $2.3 million project will feature a roughly one mile, multi-use trail that is divided for bicycle riding, hiking and running. It will stretch from Bryn Mawr Avenue to Devon Avenue. ComEd owns the right-of-way the planned path will traverse. The city will lease access to it for $1.
The trail would start just east of Kostner Avenue at its southern end.
From there it a makes a mild curve to the east -- roughly in the shape of a bow -- skirting the eastern edge of Sauganash Park and ending just west of Kostner at its northern end. In addition to Bryn Mawr and Devon, there will be access points at West Thome Avenue and at Sauganash Park. The existing railroad viaducts at Rogers Avenue and at Peterson Avenue will be demolished and replaced with lightweight bridges specifically designed to provide clear visibility from the street.
The path itself will have a total width of 22 feet, split down the middle to allow for north and southbound travel. Each side will have a 6-foot-wide bicycle lane just off the center, a 3-foot-wide running and walking trail to the right of it, and a 2-foot-wide, landscaped border at the edge. The bike and foot lanes will have specialized surfaces.
As a safety and orientation feature, markers will be posted along the path that will be based on the city's address marking system, allowing people to provide their locations in case of emergencies.
Once the Valley Line Trail is completed, it will be turned over to the Chicago Park District. As with city parks, the real estate that is part of the trail would be subject to the typical state criminal statutes that apply to public park land. Many criminal offenses -- such as possession of marijuana or a controlled substance, selling illegal drugs, use of alcohol by a minor, possession of or unlawful use of a weapon, gang recruitment or activity -- are made more severe if they occur within a park as well as a set buffer zone around a park. Police would no longer have to get permission from ComEd to enter the property and would have full access to the trail.
There are no train tracks remaining on the rail bed that will be used for the bike and walking paths. The long-removed extension once branched off from a length of track that cuts northeast along the western edge of the industrial park there. That former set of tracks split off from the mainline right at Bryn Mawr Avenue. The Chicago Department of Transportation will install planters to separate the soon-to-be constructed Valley Line Trail from was is now a very seldom-used length set of rails.
Alderman Margaret Laurino, 39th Ward, once said the city would like to someday put a trail on that rail bed, if it is ever is abandoned. If the rusted rails and appearance of long-deferred maintenance is any clue it would seem that the days for that line are numbered.
In the future, according to the city's Chicago Bike 2015 Plan, the Valley Line Trail might be part of a network of off-street bike and walking trials that stretches through city park and Cook County Forest Preserve District land along the North Branch of the Chicago River.
Until then, the city has a route on recommended streets that takes riders between city paths along the North Shore Channel and a county forest preserve trail that starts at Caldwell and Devon avenues. The Valley Line Trail might someday continue across Devon, along the railroad right of way, into the north and northwest suburbs as part of a "Rails to Trails" initiative.
June 26, 2007
Per Alderman Laurino's office, construction of the bike trail is to start on July 9. It will start with the viaduct/bridge on Rogers Avenue.
Per Alderman Laurino's office, work on the Valley Line Bike Trail will begin on July 16th. We're not sure of the exact work schedule yet, but it appears likely that the work on the actual trail will start before the bridge replacements due to some utility conflicts. Click here to see more information from the Chicago Department of Transportation.
July 15, 2007
Work to begin on Valley Line pedestrian trail in Sauganash - Two viaducts to be replaced
by BRIAN NADIG
Construction will begin this month on the Valley Line multi-use trail, which will offer walkers, joggers and bicyclists a 1-mile path through Sauganash between Bryn Mawr Avenue and Devon Avenue.
City Department of Transportation spokeswoman Maria Castaneda said that the 22-foot-wide trail will be built on an unused railroad embankment which for the most part runs just to the east of Kostner Avenue. She said that the trail will consist of two paved 6-foot-wide bicycle lanes and two gravel 3-foot-wide walking and jogging lanes, and a 2-foot shoulder on each side of the path.
Handicapped accessible ramps to the trail are being built at Sauganash Park, 5861 N. Kostner Ave., and where the trail crosses Thome Avenue, Castenada said. Ground-level access points to the trail will be at Bryn Mawr and at Devon, and planter boxes will be installed near the Bryn Mawr entrance, she said.
The $2.3 million project also will include the replacement of railroad viaducts with pedestrian bridges at Peterson Avenue, about a block east of Kostner, and at Rogers Avenue, about 2 blocks south of Peterson. Castenada said that Rogers will be closed to through traffic during the bridge work and that temporary lane closings are planned for Peterson.
Castenada said that construction of the trail is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The city plans to lease the former railroad right-of-way from its owner, Commonwealth Edison, for $1 a year.
Long-range plans call for the Valley Line trail to extend into the northern suburbs, but for now the trail will allow bicyclists to use an on-street connector route to travel east from Bryn Mawr to the Lake-front, while from Devon bicyclists will be able to ride west to the North Branch Bike Trail at Devon and Caldwell avenues, which also is being repaved.
November 16, 2007
Resources
Should you have any concerns or questions regarding the Valley Line Bike Path they should be directed to the project director, Janet Attarian, Chicago Department of Transportation,
Link --> Blazing New Trails - Article in the March 16, 2003 Chicago Tribune regarding our trails in Illinois. The bike trail in Sauganash is specifically mentioned in this article (in bold red).
Link --> Group forms to keep rail conversion on track - Another article in the November 30, 2003 Chicago Tribune regarding our trails in Illinois. Again, the bike trail in Sauganash is specifically mentioned in this article (in bold red).
2002
