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Newest Portion of Dupage Trail Opens with Ribbon Cutting | |
Dec 20, 2010 | |
The Citizen (FPDWC) | |
Pertains to DuPage River Trail, Naperville, Channahon, Shorewood, Plainfield, Joliet | |
The Forest Preserve District of Will County attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by the City of Naperville in September to celebrate the opening of Segment 4 of the DuPage River Trail. The new 2.5-mile section of trail connects to the Forest Preserve's Whalon Lake Preserve, the DuPage River Sports Complex, Knock Knolls Park and Dorthea Weigand Riverfront Community Park. The DuPage River Trail is being build piece by piece. Nine partners are involved in the trail project, with a goal of creating a trail along the river from DuPage County to the Village of Channahon on the south. To date, the Forest Preserve has three sections of trail in place: a 2.35-mile section through Whalon Lake, on Royce Road in Naperville; a 1-mile section at Riverview Farmstead, at 111th and Book Road in Naperville, and a 4.5-mile section through Hammel WOods, in Shorewood and Joliet. (The Forest Preserve will be extending the trail north of Black Road and additional 1.5 miles in 2011.) Prior to the CIty of Naperville's recent work, the Forest Preserve entered into an intergovernmental agreement with the Naperville Park District and the CIty of Naperville to assist in construction of a trail extension from Whalon Lake to Naperville Road. This 2006 partnership called for the Forest Preserve to constribute $200,000 to the project while the Naperville Park District provided project engineering and obtained a $200,000 Bike Path Grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The Naperville Park District handles all maintenance this trail section. Naperville Mayor George Pradel hosted the ribbon cutting, held at Knoch Knolls Park. "This is an exciting day for Naperville," the Mayor said. The new trail segment will provide an alternative mode of transportation for people going to work and for children to go to school. Mayor Pradel singled out the Forest Preserve District of Will County by saying that the City of Naperville looks forward to working with the Forest Preserve on the next segment of trail development, Segment 5, which will extend this newest section to the Forest Preserve's trail segment at Riverview Farmstead. Representing the Forest Preserve were District 4 Commissioner Charles E. Maher, of Naperville, and District 3 Commissioner Laurie McPhillips, of Plainfield. "This has been such a great project," COmmissioner Maher said. "When we got all these groups together, we can accomplish great things." He told those assembled that he has already biked the new segment of trail and urged everyone else to do so. Commissioner McPhillips invited the guests to visit Whalon Lake and "to grab your fishing pole." Among Whalon Lake Preserve's many features is an 80-acre lake, open to the public for fishing, boating, canoeing and kayaking. |