Greenway Planning Database - by Steve Breese

a web-based Geographic Information System

The Greenway Planning Database is an online resource for public officials, advocates and trail users.

This website contains lists of greenway trails, trail maps, communities they go through, and barriers they cross.

Chicago Area Trails:

Select a Greenway or Trail Plan

Trail Maps

Trail Plans

Select Your Community

Select a Greenway Trail

Existing Trails

Potential Corridor

Select a Barrier

Select a County

This website provides resources to public officials, planners, and trail-users to assist their efforts in implementing a network of greenways and trails in the Chicagoland area. Our roadways are a major deterrent for people to venture out any great distance from their homes without driving. Greenways allow people to travel across the region unimpeded by the dangers and delay of automobile traffic. Communities that plan and build greenways that connect with surrounding areas end up greatly improving the quality of life for their residents.

A Vision for the Future

Greenway Planning Database hopes to get our many communities to work together to create and connect open spaces throughout the Chicago suburbs in order to enhance the appearance and recreational opportunities in each community, and facilitate access to the county forest preserves.

Brandywine Conservancy, Community Trails Handbook, 1997

It is at the local, community level where successful trail networks begin.
Steve Sherman, Bike Hiking, 1974

A bike is an ideal compromise between walking and a car. A bike triples the speed of walking yet doesn’t zoom over the landscape, so that what is passed isn’t passed unseen.
H.G. Wells, English novelist, 1866—1946

Cycle trails will abound in Utopia.