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| Funding will help close gap in Fox River Trail | |
| Dec 1, 2007 | |
| Beacon News | |
| Pertains to Fox River Trail, Aurora | |
| AURORA -- The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning has approved a $600,000 grant for engineering and construction on the Fox River Trail in downtown Aurora. Jeff Palmquist, director of planning, development and grants for the Fox Valley Park District, said work on the project should begin next year. The Park District, city of Aurora and the Kane County Forest Preserve District will share the $1.7 million cost of constructing sections of the trail gap in the downtown area that are not being funded through state grants. The grant money comes from a federally funded program designed to improve air quality and mitigate congestion. "They had to come up with some type of quantitative way to rate (bicycle) trail projects and show how they would reduce (auto) emissions," said Ed Barsotti, executive director of the League of Illinois Bicyclists. "They came up with a calculation of how much pollution would be reduced for every car trip that was diverted to a bike trip. "In Aurora's case, since the gap is in a place of high population and employment density and leads to the Metra train station, it is rated pretty highly." The bike path gap in Aurora is the major break that remains in the Fox River Bicycle Trail that runs from Oswego to Wisconsin. The gap begins at the Virgil Gilman Trail and continues north to the south end of the Fox River Trail's west branch near Galena Boulevard. Then bicyclists must pedal through traffic in downtown Aurora. Barsotti, who also works as a part-time project consultant for the city of Aurora, said once the gap is filled it will "bring people downtown and act as an economic development tool." |
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