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Lake County trail extension planned
May 9, 2008
Mick Zawislak, Staff Writer
Daily Herald
Pertains to Squaw Creek, Hawthorn Woods, Mundelein, Wauconda
Another piece of a regional trail system connecting central, western and northern Lake County is expected to be completed by fall.

Two committees of the Lake County Forest Preserve District on Thursday approved a contract of $1.2 million to extend a spur of the trail by 2 miles. The full board votes on the measure Tuesday.

The work involves two miles of 12-foot-wide trail, a 110-foot-long bridge and a parking lot for 25 vehicles for what is known as the Ray Lake connection.

The extension will run from the Millenium Trail at Route 176 and Fairfield Road in the Lakewood Forest Preserve near Wauconda, through the former Four Winds golf course to the edge of the Ray Lake Forest Preserve at Gilmer Road.

Greg Greenhill Construction Inc. of Ringwood was the lowest responsible bidder and was about $300,000 under the district's original estimate. Work is scheduled to begin in June to be completed by Oct. 24.

In a related matter, the committees also agreed to seek an application for a federal grant of more than $2.6 million for a tunnel under Gilmer Road and a trail system at Ray Lake. The grant would be administered through the Illinois Transportation Enhancement program.

That project would extend trails from Lakewood and Ray Lake and allow future links to thousands of acres of other forest preserves as well as train stations. The overall cost of the project is estimated at more than $3.5 million, with the district required to pay 20 percent.

Millenium Trail is a planned 35-mile system. The first 3.2-mile section opened in 2002 from near Fairfield Road in Lakewood east to Gilmer Road. From there it runs east to connect with the North Shore Trail, which follows streets and then an old railroad bed through Mundelein and Libertyville, connecting with the Des Plaines River Trail as well as the McClory Trail in Lake Bluff.

The district has been buying land to extend the trail to the north and east from the Singing Hills Forest Preserve between Lakemoor and Wauconda through the Round Lake area to Rollins Savannah near Grayslake.

From there the plans are to extend it through the Fourth Lake Forest Preserve and Bonner Heritage Farm to McDonald Woods near Lindenhurst. Eventually, it will connect with the northern portion of the Des Plaines River Trail near Wadsworth.

   
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