Blazing New Trails

Plans afoot to convert more rails to paths in the area

By Mary Beth Klatt

Special to the Tribune

Rabbits and squirrels leap over the railroad tracks hidden by long yellow grass. White graffiti mars the cement embankments. It's been several years since a Canadian Pacific freight train lumbered across these tracks, called the Bloomingdale Line, which runs from Hamlin Avenue to the Chicago River north of North Avenue.

Chicago Department of Transportation officials are studying the possibility of turning that railway into a recreational trail.

Each year former railways similar to the Bloomingdale Line are so converted. More than 1,000 of these trails dot the country, totaling nearly 11,000 miles, thanks to organizations such as the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in Washington, D.C.

The conservancy acts to convert abandoned rail lines into hiker/biker routes under the "rail-banking program," designated by Congress in 1983. Illinois has about 1,200 miles of trails, some of which are former rail lines. The Illinois Prairie Path, Burnham Greenway, Old Plank Road Trail and Green Bay Trail are among the conversions in Illinois. About 50 miles of trails are added annually The rights-of-way used are

LAN-OAK TRAIL: When complete, the trail
will run by the old Lansing depot and will
connect to the Burnham Greenway and Old
Plank Road Trail.

from feeder lines that were abandoned as railroads consolidated freight traffic on main lines. Besides former rail rights of way, conversions include historic canals, landfills and utility corridors.

Railway preservationists oppose such recreational paths, saying the removal of rail ties signals the end of a working railway. While the

VALLEY LINE: A conversion is in the works for
the former Valley Line east of Kostner Avenue
between Bryn Mawr and Devon Avenues in
Chicago.

Photos for the Tribune by Warren

It will cost an estimated $932,000 to convert a former Penn Central rail line into a bike trail i
Lansing. It will connect to the Burnham Greenway and Old Plank Road Trail, a former rail line

This overpass near Bryn Mawr and Kostner Avenues is a section of a Union Pacific (formerly Chicago & North Western) rail line that is to become recreational path.

Congressional guidelines specify that a trail can be remade into a working railroad if the corridor is deemed essential for train service. This rarely happens, according to Barton Jennings, a senior research specialist in transportation at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

"There have been a couple of cases where industry would like the rail line put back in and the trails [activists] have fought the proposal," he says. "The original rails-to-trails plan was to use the right-of-ways as a trail until industry or business needed the line. However, it has not always worked out that way."

The Surface Transportation Board makes the decision on returning a trail to a train, says George Bellovics, the Grand Illinois Trails coordinator at Illinois Department of Natural Resources. None have made the switch back.

The Bloomingdale Line probably will not return to active rail use. "The industrial base it used to serve is no longer there" says Randy Neufeld, executive director of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. At one time,without he Bloomingdale served the Peerless Candy Co. and other manufacturers along he Clybourn Industrial corridor. Retaining rights-of-way executive director for rail use isn't as big an issue in rural areas as in ciland Bicycle Fed- ties, said Mark Hemphill, editor of Trains Magazine, Bloomingdale Waukesha, Wis. A former rail line in the country is less likely to be needed.

Not so in the city. Los Angeles, for example, abandoned a streetcar line in the 1950s and attempted to reclaim it in the 1990s at a cost of millions of dollars. The 1988 film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" poked fun at Los Angeles' situation.

Multi-use of trails possible

A compromise is rails-with-trails, biker/hiker trails that run parallel to an active railroad. Fences, barriers and at least 50 feet must separate the trials from the rails, typically used by a few or slow-moving trains. There are 60 rails-with-trails encompassing 239 miles in 20 states, including Illinois, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation document. This approach has been taken since rails to trails movement began about 30 years ago.

Illinois Railway Museum in Union is a good example of this. A part of a new recreational trail linking Marengo, Union and Huntley will be constructed on museum property to keep pedestrians and bicyclists away from the nearby railroad.

In return, the museum will receive a strip of land between the Kishwaukee River and Coyne Station Road that will let it extend one of its rail lines three-quarters of a mile. The strip is an old railway right-of-way used by the Elgin & Belvidere Railroad for an interurban train in the early 20th Century. The line was abandoned in the 1920s-'30s. "So [the land, a former interubran line] has a warm place in our hearts," says C. Kevin McCabe, president of the museum that houses several interurban cars.

It's not easy to transform a shipping line into a bicycle path through Illinois. Railway owners must pay taxes on the land until the tracks are declared abandoned by the federal Surface Transportation Board This is what needs to happen to the Bloomingdale. which is considered active though a train has not crossed its rails since 1997.

Once the rail is officially abandoned, a conversion to a trail can take place because the foundation is established. The Bloomingdale Line, however, is elevated. The city needs to determine how bicyclists and hikers can safely get up to and down from it. There are also 38 via-

The proposed Bloomingdale Line trail would run close to balconies of residential buildings at Da-
men Avenue.

ducts under the line that will need to be rehabbed.

"A lot of them are in poor condition," says Luann Hamilton, CDOT's director of transportation planning. It could cost $4 million to $5 million to make the line safe for bicyclists and pedestrians. Funding sources for this project haven't been determined. But a bike/ped path in a city costs 1 1/2 times more than a rural one because of the bridges and streets that need to be made safe. "$1 million a mile isn't unusual in an urban environment," says Hamilton.

"It would be a 2.5-mile expressway without stops and cars," Neufeld says. "It would essentially attract anyone interested in [getting around town faster]."

Residents along the Bloomingdale Line are generally supportive of the conversion but have put up fences to keep vagrants at bay. Bucktown resident Eva Bergant knows of at least one man who has made his home on the deserted line. "He has a cardboard house with appliances attached to the electrical line," she says. "He has a television set and the works."

Other paths
A conversion is in the works for the former Valley Line rail east of Kostner Avenue between Bryn Mawr and Devon Avenues. Chicago & North Western freight trains traversed the Valley Line stretch until the early 1990s, when Commonwealth Edison bought the land. That trail will lead to the Lakefront trail.

Another rail-to-trail conversion is under way in Lansing, near the Indiana/Illinois border.

Village officials have bought a three-mile former line from Pennsylvania Central Railroad to create a recreational path. The spur runs from the Little Calumet River to Indiana.

It will cost $932,000 to convert the rail into a path, which will connect to the Burnham Greenway and Old Plank Road Trail, a former rail line.

Village and park district officials plan to rehab a nearby vacant depot, returning the station to its 1860 appearance and making it a focal point of community activities such as concerts. An adjacent former lumber yard is pegged for a mixed retail/residential development.

"People can go north to Chicago [via the Burnham Greenway] and south to the Old Plank Road trail," says John Wilson, director of parks and recreation for the Lan-Oak Park District. "There are millions of people who will use this trail. They'll come visit the restaurants and shops and possibly stay overnight in the hotels. The prospects for tourism are unbelievable."





	Photos for the Tribune by Warren Skalski BLOOMINGDALE LINE: Chicago officials are examining building a trail along the former Bloomingdale Line, shown here running near Damen Avenue

	Blazing new trails



		Photos for the Tribune by Warren It will cost an estimated $932,000 to convert a former Penn Central rail line into a bike trail i Lansing. It will connect to the Burnham Greenway and Old Plank Road Trail, a former rail line
		This overpass near Bryn Mawr and Kostner Avenues is a section of a Union Pacific (formerly Chicago & North Western) rail line that is to become recreational path.
	Congressional guidelines specify that a trail can be remade into a working railroad if the corridor is deemed essential for train service. This rarely happens, according to Barton Jennings, a senior research specialist in transportation at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. "There have been a couple of cases where industry would like the rail line put back in and the trails [activists] have fought the proposal," he says. "The original rails-to-trails plan was to use the right-of-ways as a trail until industry or business needed the line. However, it has not always worked out that way." The Surface Transportation Board makes the decision on returning a trail to a train, says George Bellovics, the Grand Illinois Trails coordinator at Illinois Department of Natural Resources. None have made the switch back.
	The Bloomingdale Line probably will not return to active rail use. "The industrial base it used to serve is no longer there" says Randy Neufeld, executive director of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. At one time,without he Bloomingdale served the Peerless Candy Co. and other manufacturers along he Clybourn Industrial corridor. Retaining rights-of-way executive director for rail use isn't as big an issue in rural areas as in ciland Bicycle Fed- ties, said Mark Hemphill, editor of Trains Magazine, Bloomingdale Waukesha, Wis. A former rail line in the country is less likely to be needed. Not so in the city. Los Angeles, for example, abandoned a streetcar line in the 1950s and attempted to reclaim it in the 1990s at a cost of millions of dollars. The 1988 film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" poked fun at Los Angeles' situation. Multi-use of trails possible A compromise is rails-with-trails, biker/hiker trails that run parallel to an active railroad. Fences, barriers and at least 50 feet must separate the trials from the rails, typically used by a few or slow-moving trains. There are 60 rails-with-trails encompassing 239 miles in 20 states, including Illinois, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation document. This approach has been taken since rails to trails movement began about 30 years ago. Illinois Railway Museum in Union is a good example of this. A part of a new recreational trail linking Marengo, Union and Huntley will be constructed on museum property to keep pedestrians and bicyclists away from the nearby railroad. In return, the museum will receive a strip of land between the Kishwaukee River and Coyne Station Road that will let it extend one of its rail lines three-quarters of a mile. The strip is an old railway right-of-way used by the Elgin & Belvidere Railroad for an interurban train in the early 20th Century. The line was abandoned in the 1920s-'30s. "So [the land, a former interubran line] has a warm place in our hearts," says C. Kevin McCabe, president of the museum that houses several interurban cars. It's not easy to transform a shipping line into a bicycle path through Illinois. Railway owners must pay taxes on the land until the tracks are declared abandoned by the federal Surface Transportation Board This is what needs to happen to the Bloomingdale. which is considered active though a train has not crossed its rails since 1997. Once the rail is officially abandoned, a conversion to a trail can take place because the foundation is established. The Bloomingdale Line, however, is elevated. The city needs to determine how bicyclists and hikers can safely get up to and down from it. There are also 38 via-