A multimillion dollar project to upgrade several segments of the Des Plaines Trail System in Cook County – including near Franklin Park, Elmwood Park and Oak Park — has begun moving forward into the construction phase, officials announced.
Forest Preserve District of Cook County officials said they have been working for more than a decade on partnerships, funding and plans for improvements to address trail alignment, flooding and handicapped accessibility along their 28.4-mile-long section of the recreational path that presently runs along the Des Plaines River from Melrose Park to the Wisconsin border.
The scope of the project includes $70 million in upgrades to the trail from Touhy Avenue, near Park Ridge, south to North Avenue near Elmwood Park.
Possible future work may extend the south end of the Des Plaines Trail System by creating a “bike boulevard” along Thatcher Avenue in River Forest and other short links that would make the missing 6.5-mile-long connection to the Illinois Prairie Path, Salt Creek Greenway, Cal-Sag Trail and the Centennial and John Husar I&M Canal Trail Systems, according to forest preserve officials.
Project plans divide the massive undertaking into 10 segments that will see the installation of three new pedestrian overpass bridges and three sections of raised concrete platforms –or boardwalks, among several other elements.
According to a stakeholder council known as the Trail Advisory Group, almost a third of the total pathways and five of the underpasses of the Des Plaines Trail System are flooded for an average of nearly five months in any given year.
Funding for the project comes from federal and state grants such as the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program and the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program.
Costs also are being shared by local sources and many of the municipalities bordering the forest preserve land through which the trail runs, including Chicago, Des Plaines, Elmwood Park, Franklin Park, Norridge, Northbrook, Park Ridge, River Grove, Rosemont and Schiller Park.
The southern portion of the project could involve financial participation from Forest Park, Maywood, Melrose Park and possibly others, depending on the outcome of ongoing planning sessions between the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and other stakeholder groups, according to the forest preserve district officials.
The improvement project also heralds a rechristening of the path as the Des Plaines River Trail System – adding the word “River” to the official name, a move that forest preserve officials said would be publicized early next year.
FPDCC officials recently announced that work is currently underway to clear trees and brush along a 1.2 mile segment of the Des Plaines Trail System in the Catherine Chevalier Woods and Robinson Woods South forest preserves, which border Chicago, Norridge, Rosemont and Schiller Park.
The $7.9 million project segment is planned to include installation of a pedestrian bridge over Lawrence Avenue, repairing unpaved trail surfaces and creating an access path to the intersection of East River Road. The bridge is expected to replace an existing tunnel beneath Lawrence Avenue that often floods or freezes in the winter and is unpassable to walkers and cyclists.
Officials said the plan also calls for 1,000 feet of raised pathway to be installed over trail portions that frequently are under water.
“The boardwalk will be a contiguous raised path consisting of precast concrete decking and steel rails,” FPDCC landscape architect and project manager Pamela Sielski said. “Its height above the ground will change according to the terrain below in order to remain above the 100-year waterline. It will be two feet to as much as 10 feet above the ground in some places.”
On Sept. 6, the Franklin Park Village Board approved committing $513,920 in preliminary design engineering funding, which Village President Barrett Pedersen confirmed would later be reimbursed by the forest preserve district.
“Franklin Park has spent zero dollars on this,” Pedersen said. “The ITEP grant requires a 20% match from the local community, and the forest preserve has already indicated that they’re going to make that match. Also, for a phase two engineering ITEP grant that we’ve done already, the State of Illinois waived the 20-percent match and fully funded it.”
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According to the FPDCC, other funding sources for various segments of trail improvements include $1.03 million from the West Central Municipal Conference, $721,000 of Surface Transportation Program funds from the North Central Council of Mayors, a $240,000 grant from Cook County and $100,000 from the Chicago Community Trust.
The project plans call for all traffic light intersections associated with the Des Plaines Trail System project to receive handicapped accessibility upgrades.
Beginning next spring, work will start on the trail segment between Lawrence Avenue and Irving Park Road. A 650-foot-long section of boardwalk will be installed south of the Robinson Woods South picnic grove and a section of the trail in the floodway will be abandoned in favor of new path and another short boardwalk near the Schiller Woods West forest preserve picnic grove.
The second new pedestrian bridge will be built over Irving Park Road to connect the Schiller Woods West and South forest preserves.
Officials said the trail through the most frequently flooded area, in Schiller Woods, south of Irving Park Road, would be rerouted east and a third pedestrian bridge built over the Metra train tracks.
According to planning documents, future segments could include a “bike boulevard” along Thatcher Avenue in River Forest or extending the trail through Thatcher Woods. Officials say the route could eventually link with the Illinois Prairie Path, a 61-mile-long trail that connects Cook, DuPage and Kane counties.
FPDCC officials said the project also includes new neighborhood gateways, paths and bike lanes throughout their Cook County section, adding to connectivity that extends through the 31.4 miles of the trail in Lake County.
“In Lake County, the Des Plaines River Trail directly connects to other existing and planned regional trails, including –from north to south– the Millennium Trail, the Casey Trail, the Patriot Path and the North Shore and Lincolnshire Bike Paths,” Rebekah Snyder, director of community engagement and Partnerships for Lake County Forest Preserves, said in a statement.
Using all bridges and underpasses, the trail does not cross any major roads as it follows the river on forest preserve land adjacent to eight Lake County municipalities that include Buffalo Grove, Deerfield, Libertyville, Lincolnshire, Mettawa, Vernon Hills, Wadsworth and Waukegan.
“The Lake County Forest Preserves is a close partner of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County,” Snyder said. “As county level conservation agencies, our leadership and staff collaborate regularly, sharing information and expertise on how to do landscape-scale restoration to preserve open, natural lands in our complex urban/suburban metropolitan region.”
According to Michael Kerr, Christopher Burke Engineering president and project manager, each segment of the trail upgrade process consists of two engineering phases followed by construction. Various trail segment projects are progressing along different timelines, with some in phase two engineering, some in the bid process and others awaiting approvals or grant funding.
Kerr said construction on some project segments may not begin until 2024 and be completed until 2026.
Gary Gibula is a freelancer.