Trust for Public Land

Last month, colorful new wayfinding signs were installed near all of the access ramps for The 606, aka the Bloomingdale Trail. They point trail users to the nearest off-ramp and access park. The relatively small text on the signs is a little tricky to read if you're cycling past them at a moderate pace, but they're a welcome addition to the trail. They'll help people become more familiar with the street names in the four neighborhoods the elevated greenway passes through.

In June, Steven Vance and I got a sneak peek at construction to build the Bloomingdale Trail, AKA The 606. On Tuesday, I went back up on the rail line for a tour with Beth White from the Trust for Public Land, which is managing the project, and saw that major progress has been made over the last six months. Work on bridges and utilities is largely complete, access ramps are in place, many blocks of railings have been installed, and most of the 2.7-mile route is paved.

Yesterday, Steven and I got a sneak peek at construction on the Bloomingdale Trail on a walking tour led by Jamie Simone from the Trust for Public Land, which is managing the elevated trail and linear park project for the city and the park district.

Tomorrow morning, early risers can catch what may be the most dramatic step in the process of converting the Bloomingdale Line to an elevated greenway and linear park. Starting around 5 a.m., crews will begin the process of transporting the rail line’s massive Ashland bridge 1.5 miles to its new home at Western.

The Bloomingdale Trail, AKA The 606, is not just going to be a great transportation and recreation facility. It’s also going to be an important educational resource for students at the 25 schools located within a ten-minute walk of the 2.7-mile elevated greenway and linear park. Today the Trust for Public Land, which is managing the project for the city and the park district, announced that it has hired Jean Linsner to design and implement educational programming for the trail and its five access parks. The two-year position is funded by Exelon Corporation as part of its $5 million donation to the Bloomingdale project.

After a few months of relative quiet since the last community meeting in September, there’s some news about the highly anticipated project to build a multi-use trail and “linear park” along the Bloomingdale Line. On Tuesday of last week, years after announcing its intention to open the trail, the city of Chicago finally purchased the right-of-way from Canadian Pacific Railway for one dollar, plus $105,000 in administrative fees associated with the railroad vacating the land. The city will eventually give the property to the Chicago Park District, which will administer the trail. “That’s pretty typical of what happens when the park district acquires land,” says Beth White, director of the Trust for Public Land, which is spearheading fundraising efforts.