TRAIL NEWS

RIDING TIPS | CREDITS & LINKS | TRAIL SIGNS

The Grand Illinois trail is a work in progress. Several of the most difficult on-road sections today will be substituted with trails over the next several years.

Some of these sections include (with Openlands estimated time of arrival - OLP)

Section 4

• a connection will be made between the Hebron Trail and the Prairie trail at Richmond (2004-05)

Section 5

• the McHenry County Conservation District will open up a trail extension stub from the Long Prairie Trail to Harvard (2006)
• a route/trail will be in place on the east side of Harvard to Hebron Road (2008)

Section 6

• the Pecatonica Prairie path will be surfaced next year between Meridian Rd. on the west side of Rockford, to Pecatonica (2005)
• at partial trail extension will be made between the Long Prairie Trail and Rock Cut State Park (2006-07)

Section 9

• north of Savanna a trail will be built through the Mississippi Palisades State Park (2006)
• north of Mississippi Palisades State Park, an approximately 12 mile trail will be built along the west edge of the old Savanna Army Depot to Blandings Landing (2006-07)
• the City of Galena recently acquired a rail corridor which will be converted to a trail in order to avoid the "traffic" at the north end of Blackjack Road (2006-07)

Sections 15 & 16

• the Hennepin Canal Parkway Trail will stretch almost to the I&M Canal Trail in La Salle (2009)

Section 18

• the north section of the Burnham Trail will extend from William Powers Conservation Area to Brainard Ave (2006)
• the final connection of the north section of the Burnham Greenway to its south section will be made through Burnham (2008)
• the Burnham Greenway will extend south of 170th St. as the Lansing Greenway (2005-06) and west to the Thorn Creek Trail system (2007)
• the Old Plank Road Trail will extend west to Chicago Heights (2007) and through the Forest Preserves (2009)