A new path for Lake Arlington will cost nearly $1 million, but a state grant will pay for part of it.
The Arlington Heights Park District recently was awarded a $400,000 matching grant for improvements to the popular Arlington Heights park. The money is from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Included in the upgrades will be the total rehab of the 2.4-mile trail at the park. The asphalt pathway will be widened to separate bicyclists from people on foot.
It’s a project the park district has pursued previously for the 20-year-old path, notably in two failed referendum attempts in 2012. It also was of heightened interest after the park district’s first ever fatality.
“We had already received a lot of input over the past two seasons,” said Anita Pacheco, a park district spokeswoman. “The path improvements will already have been informed by community input.”
In June 2013, Barbara Pagano, 74, was hit by a young bicyclist while out on her daily walk on the path. She hit her head and later died at the hospital. The tragedy sparked public outcry over safety and tense community discussion that pitted cyclists and pedestrians against each other.
In response, the park district, without the money to make physical changes, made policy changes instead.
It initially asked walkers, runners, strollers and wheelchairs to go in a clockwise direction while bicyclists, skateboarders and roller skaters were to go in a counter-clockwise direction.
That proved to be confusing and unpopular, with residents reporting that self-policing caused more friction in the community. The park district later altered the policy to allow pedestrians to go both ways.
In addition to the path upgrade, estimated to cost $980,000, the grant also will help pay for exercise stations, a shelter with game tables, piers for fishing and radio-controlled boats, a sensory garden, an extension to and storage for the public boat pier and an emergency 911 telephone kiosk.
The total estimate for all improvements is listed at more than $1.5 million, which means the park district will be on the hook for far more than the $400,000 the grant requires. Officials say money has been set aside for capital improvements.
The state grant requires the projects to be completed within two years, and Pacheco said construction will begin in 2016.
“What we’re anticipating is we’ll not have to keep the public from enjoying the park for the full two years,” Pacheco said.
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