A group of west suburban agencies are joining forces to extend a network of local trails so that the cities of Naperville and Bolingbrook are better connected for those want to walk or bike.
The project, which would build out a pathway along the stretch road at the edge of south Naperville where Washington Street becomes Weber Road, will be headed by the Forest Preserve District of Will County in partnership with the city of Naperville, Naperville Park District and Bolingbrook Park District.
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The venture would extend the forest preserve district’s existing DuPage River Trail, a miles-long trail system it has slowly been expanding over the past 25 years. True to its name, the trail system roughly parallels the DuPage River.
As proposed, the Naperville/Bolingbrook extension would add about a mile-long section of trail. It will travel through DuPage River Park in Naperville and Indian Boundary Park in Bolingbrook to an existing section of the DuPage River Trail owned by the Bolingbrook Park District. The proposed trail would primarily run along the east side of Weber Road, through an area known as the Weber Road corridor.
Between design and construction, the project is estimated to cost just under $4.5 million, according to an engineering feasibility study conducted by the forest preserve district. About 80% of the cost is expected to be covered by federal funds, project partners say. The remaining $900,000 that would be paid for locally at about $225,000 per partnering agency.
The forest preserve district, as the project’s lead agency, broached the idea for a Weber Road corridor extension about a year ago, according to Bill Novack, director of Naperville’s Transportation, Engineering and Development department. It is still in the early stages of development, he said.
Naperville, for instance, has yet to formally opt in to the endeavor. Later this summer, city staff will bring an intergovernmental agreement to the Naperville City Council for approval. Council members were made aware of the proposal through a memorandum issued last week.
In a call Monday, Novack said the agreement will likely be on the council’s agenda sometime in August.
The new pathway would probably be a continuation of what the DuPage River Trail looks like elsewhere: asphalt reaching out about 10 feet wide with grass shoulders on both sides, he said.
Engineering for the project is expected to take about 24 to 36 months, says Ralph Schultz, executive director of the Will County Forest Preserve District. Construction will take about a year, Schultz said, meaning it could be ready for use in 2027 or 2028.
“We’re probably looking at, at least, three to four years before someone’s actually riding on the trail,” he said.
As a whole, the DuPage River Trail system has been a long time in the making. Parts of it date back to the 1990s, according to Schultz.
From the start, the system of trails has been a product of multiagency collaboration. In all, the DuPage River Trail has been made possible by a partnership between the forest preserve district and about 12 other local agencies.
Beyond the Weber Road corridor between Naperville and Bolingbrook, the forest preserve district has many more extensions planned to fully flesh out its trail system, Schultz said. Eventually, they would like to see the trail network cover about 40 miles, double what exists right now, he said.
When the entire system will be complete is hard to say, Schultz said, noting that building out trails across property shared with different municipalities and park districts “takes a long time” and is “complicated.”
The long-term vision, though, is that once complete, the trail will extend from DuPage County to Channahon in Will County.