[nomarandlee]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/transpo...park20.article

Full steam ahead on park
BLOOMINGDALE TRAIL |
City seeks designs to turn old rail route into a bike-and-people-friendly green space

September 20, 2008

BY MARY WISNIEWSKI Transportation Reporter mwisniewski@suntimes.com
The old railroad right-of-way that runs east and west along Bloomingdale Avenue on the Northwest Side could become a "linear park" for bicyclists and pedestrians once the city puts together the design and the funding.

The city plans to seek proposals from engineers and architects by the end of the year to examine building a 2.7-mile "Bloomingdale Trail" along unused Canadian Pacific tracks from Ridgeway on the west to the Chicago River on the east.

Andrew Vesselinovitch, director of the urban parks program for the Trust for Public Land, said the Bloomingdale Trail would provide a crucial east-west link for bicyclists and pedestrians. Many of the city's bike paths run north and south.

The preliminary plans include new parks along the trail, including one in a weedy, unused concrete parking lot at Milwaukee and Bloomingdale. Other parks are planned at Albany, Damen, Marshfield and Kimball.

Eight access points would allow visitors to get on and off the elevated trail, which would pass through the neighborhoods of Logan Square and Bucktown.

The city is seeking proposals for the 18-month-long first phase of the project. During the first phase, contractors would develop designs and investigate the condition of the 37 rail viaducts along the line, which could be costly to repair and maintain, said Brian Steele, spokesman for the city's Transportation Department.

Once the first phase is complete, the city will have an idea of what the project will cost so it can figure out funding, Steele said. The city has so far received $2.6 million in federal funds and is matching $600,000 in local funds for the first two phases of the project.

It could be several years before the trail is ready for walkers and riders.

When I first read about this I did think it was a real cool and creative project but now like many here it seems like this could be a missed opportunity to set the beginnings of a great east-west rapid transit corridor (or at least BRT). I was thinking that down the line it may not be that hard to turn it back into a transit corridor if the support arises but then I got to thinking that once this goes green it will hard to go back and make it transit oriented without massive NIMBY interferance.