Illinois Prairie Path
Trail Development & New Bridges

The Illinois Prairie Path (IPP) is a 61-mile hiking, biking and nature trail in Cook, DuPage and Kane Counties. The IPP's route runs from Maywood to Wheaton, then branches to Elgin and Aurora (with side spurs to Batavia and Geneva).

The following improvements have been made by the IPP not-for-profit corporation to the trail and the surrounding community. None of this would have been possible without its members.

1999

• The Illinois Prairie-Path donated $10,000 to the Glen Ellyn Bridge Task Force for the construction of a pedestrian bridge over Taylor Avenue. The DuPage County DOT and the Village of Glen Ellyn have entered into an inter-governmental agreement to begin construction of the $511,000 bridge in 2000. The Taylor Avenue bridge will be 60' feet long and 14' wide.

• Preserve, restore and re-establish prairies along the 61-mile trail. The IPP spent $7,600 for prairie restoration work in 1999 and $8,000 is budgeted for 2000. The IPP supplements the work of volunteers by hiring a prairie landscape architect for the IPP's prairies at the following five locations: Volunteer Park (Wheaton), President St. (Wheaton), Hoffman Park (Wheaton), Nagle St. (IPP Elgin Branch south of North Ave.) and First Avenue (Maywood). In 1999 a new demonstration prairie was planted at a cost of $2,700 at the IPP's eastern trailhead at First Avenue in Maywood. Plans are currently being developed for a second demonstration prairie in Cook County immediately east of the Indiana Harbor Belt Railway. Volunteers are the foundation of the prairie restoration work that is done at the showcase Elmhurst Great Western Prairie and the West Chicago Prairie.

• Install display cases, (which contain trail-maps and other trail information), mile markers, and benches. The IPP currently has 13 display cases along the 61-mile trail. In 1999 a new display case was installed at the IPP's eastern trailhead at First Avenue in Maywood plus the cases were refurbished in Warrenville on the IPP Aurora Branch and at Bilter Road on the IPP Batavia Spur. In 1998 the metal frame and lexan portion of five display cases were replaced.

• Provide free trail-maps to trail users. Over 185,000 free maps have been distributed from the IPP display cases along the 61-mile trail over the last six summers. In 1999 the cost of providing these free maps was $1,700.

• In September 1999 the IPP had a well drilled and water pump installed on the IPP's Elgin Branch at Army Trail Road in Wayne at a cost of $5,875.

• Place and maintain trash containers and comfort stations along the trail. In 1999 the IPP purchased 13 new weatherstone trash containers at a cost of $6,300 to replace our old 55-gallon trash barrels. The 13 new containers exactly match the 4 containers that were donated to the IPP in 1998 by Jean Mooring. The IPP pays for the servicing of 17 trash containers and a comfort station at an annual cost of $4,000.

• The IPP is financing the restoration of three Native American Indian burial mounds in the Winfield Mounds Forest Preserve. This Indian village and mound site is south of the IPP's Geneva Spur in a mature oak-hickory forest. This project will add a new destination point along the 61-mile trail for trail users and will also repair the 1926 vandalism and the 1931 and 1975 archeology work that was done at these burial mounds. Allied Archeology completed the restoration of the mounds in October 1999. The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County (FPDDC) has started clearing non-native brush near the mounds. After the mounds have been stabilized with vegetation the FPDDC will complete a 6-foot wide footpath connecting the IPP's Geneva Spur to the site in the fall of 2000. Interpretive signage will be placed at the intersection of the IPP's Geneva Spur and the new footpath and also at the mound site. The IPP is financing the $1,550 cost of restoring the mounds and $1,000 will also be provided for interpretive signage and a bicycle rack.

• Coordinate cleanups including the Path's annual Earth Day cleanup. For the April 29, 2000 IPP Earth Day cleanup the IPP will provide 100% funding for the registration and refreshment tables for the Wheaton Environmental Improvement Commission, the Glen Ellyn Environmental Commission, and the Villa Park Pride Commission.

• In 1997, 1998 and 1999 the IPP made $1,000 annual donations to the Conservation Foundation of DuPage County Trails Project. In 2000 the IPP donated $500 to the Illinois Trails Conservancy.

• Work with municipalities, counties and the State of Illinois to promote trail awareness and improvements.

1998

• IPP Cook County section: The IPP's 4.5-mile Cook County section will receive $660,000 of enhancements by the Illinois DNR in 1998.
  The Illinois DNR awarded this project to the low bidder in January 1998. A 1998 ribbon cutting will occur for this project as the contractor will be required to complete the work within 120 days of its start date.
  This trail improvement project will include an asphalt surface, landscaping, lighting, a new parking lot and a new bridge. The surface of the trail will be asphalt between First Avenue in Maywood and Taft Avenue in Berkeley. A new bridge will be built over Addison Creek in Bellwood and a 10-car parking lot will be constructed at First Avenue in Maywood. Lighting will be added in certain sections of the new trail.

• Bridge over the Des Plaines River in Maywood: The IPP board approved in October 1997 up to $3,000 to be spent to assist in the funding of an engineering study for the building of a pedestrian bridge over the Des Plaines River in Maywood, Illinois.
  This bridge will allow the IPP to be extended eastward about one mile to the Des Plaines Avenue CTA station.

• Bridge over Taylor Avenue in Glen Ellyn: An Illinois Prairie Path Taylor Avenue Bridge task force was formed in the Fall of 1997 to raise funds for the construction of a pedestrian bridge over Taylor Avenue in Glen Ellyn. The IPP's Taylor Avenue intersection is considared by many IPP users as one of the most dangerous intersections along the 61-mile trail.
  After only five weeks of fundraising the Taylor Avenue bridge task force had a January 1998 net worth of $17,627.

• Bridge over Kirk Road on the IPP's Batavia Spur: The Illinois DOT completed the bridge over Kirk Road on the Batavia Spur in December 1997 at a cost of $630,000. Of this, 80% is a Federal ISTEA grant, matched by 20% from the Kane County Forest Preserve District, less a 540,000 Illinois DNR bicycle grant.