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11-10-08, 08:00 AM
I found this online today:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-bloomingdale-trail_07nov10,0,106137.story
Quote:
"Key properties acquired for elevated bike and walking trail through Northwest Side
Elevated bike route on Northwest Side needs $45 million
By Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah | Tribune reporter
November 10, 2008
Efforts have picked up steam to convert an unused railroad line into an elevated bike and walking trail through the city's Northwest Side.
The City of Chicago and the Trust for Public Land have acquired key properties for three new parks and trail access ramps along the Canadian Pacific railroad line at Bloomingdale Avenue. One of the parks opened last month in Logan Square. The city has begun seeking proposals for preliminary design work, including studying the sturdiness of the embankment and 37 viaducts that support the raised railroad corridor from Ridgeway Avenue to Walsh Park.
Officials are hoping the project—the Bloomingdale Trail—could be completed within seven years. But first they face a daunting task: finding at least $45 million in government funding.
The Bloomingdale Trail would be among a small group of linear urban parks carved out of elevated railroad bridges and embankments. Others include the High Line in New York, Promenade Plantée in Paris and St. Louis' Iron Horse Trestle, a section of which runs along an old railroad bridge.
Officials say the Bloomingdale Trail would be the longest elevated trail in the country, spanning nearly 3 miles.
Cyclists would be 18 feet above traffic, at eye level with second-story homes but just below CTA trains rattling by on the Blue Line. Railing or landscaping could be used to prevent them from veering off the trail.
"For years this has been invisible space—viaducts throughout the city that you travel under without looking at what's above," said Beth White, director of the Chicago office of the Trust for Public Land. "But you have this whole other vantage point of the city that you can't find anywhere else."
Supporters hope they could eventually connect the trail, which would end at Ashland Avenue, to the Chicago River and lakefront trails to the east. The trail meets..."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-bloomingdale-trail_07nov10,0,106137.story
Quote:
"Key properties acquired for elevated bike and walking trail through Northwest Side
Elevated bike route on Northwest Side needs $45 million
By Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah | Tribune reporter
November 10, 2008
Efforts have picked up steam to convert an unused railroad line into an elevated bike and walking trail through the city's Northwest Side.
The City of Chicago and the Trust for Public Land have acquired key properties for three new parks and trail access ramps along the Canadian Pacific railroad line at Bloomingdale Avenue. One of the parks opened last month in Logan Square. The city has begun seeking proposals for preliminary design work, including studying the sturdiness of the embankment and 37 viaducts that support the raised railroad corridor from Ridgeway Avenue to Walsh Park.
Officials are hoping the project—the Bloomingdale Trail—could be completed within seven years. But first they face a daunting task: finding at least $45 million in government funding.
The Bloomingdale Trail would be among a small group of linear urban parks carved out of elevated railroad bridges and embankments. Others include the High Line in New York, Promenade Plantée in Paris and St. Louis' Iron Horse Trestle, a section of which runs along an old railroad bridge.
Officials say the Bloomingdale Trail would be the longest elevated trail in the country, spanning nearly 3 miles.
Cyclists would be 18 feet above traffic, at eye level with second-story homes but just below CTA trains rattling by on the Blue Line. Railing or landscaping could be used to prevent them from veering off the trail.
"For years this has been invisible space—viaducts throughout the city that you travel under without looking at what's above," said Beth White, director of the Chicago office of the Trust for Public Land. "But you have this whole other vantage point of the city that you can't find anywhere else."
Supporters hope they could eventually connect the trail, which would end at Ashland Avenue, to the Chicago River and lakefront trails to the east. The trail meets..."