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| Proposed Path Requires 2 Viaducts Replacements | |
| Aug 24, 2003 | |
| Brian Nadig | |
| The Reporter | |
| Pertains to Valley Line Trail, Chicago, Lincolnwood | |
| The construction of an approximately 1-mile bicycle path along a former railroad line between Devon Avenue and Bryn Mawr Avenue in Sauganash will result in the two viaducts being replaced with bicycle/pedestrian bridges. One of the viaducts to be removed is on Peterson Avenue about a block east of Kostner Avenue, and the other is on Rogers Avenue about 2 blocks south of Peterson. Long-range plans call for the new path, which will be called the "Valley Line Trail," to be continued into the northern suburbs, including Lincolnwood and Skokie. City Department of Transportation planning director Luann Hamilton said that the path will located along a former Union Pacific Railroad line whose tracks were removed during the early 1990s. She said that Union Pacific sold the property to Commonwealth Edison, which will be leasing a portion of its right-of-way to the City of Chicago. The right-of-way is east of Kostner at Bryn Mawr, and it skirts the east edge of Sauganash Park before curving west to strike Devon just west of Kostner. Hamilton said that the asphalt path will be 12 feet wide with gravel shoulders on both sides. She said that, in response to initial feedback from some community leaders, it will have an access point from Sauganash Park and likely from two other places in the residential neighborhood in addition to the access areas at the end points. Hamilton said that, from Bryn Mawr, an on-street connector route leads east to the Lakefront, while bicyclists can take Devon west to reach the North Branch Trail which starts at Devon and Caldwell and which leads to the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe. The estimated cost of installing the Valley Line Trail in Sauganash, including the removal of the viaducts, is about $1.8 million, Hamilton said. The project is being funded in part from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement Program, she said. Hamilton said that community input will be sought on the design of the two bicycle/pedestrian bridges, which have included decorative arches in other parts of the city. She said that the bridges will be built off-site and transported to the sites for installation and that they will have a higher clearance than the existing viaducts. The initial meeting regarding the bike trail was held on July 31, 2002 and the property was resurveyed at the end of August 2002. |
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