Story URL: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=142003
Story Retrieval Date: 2/9/2010 9:01:09 PM CST
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Courtesy of: The Trust for Public Land
The Bloomingdale trail as it stands today.
Courtesy of: The Trust for Public Land
Once completed, the trail will serve as a multiuse elevated park for bikers and runners.
The dream of the Bloomingdale Trail still far from reality
by Mari Fagel
Oct 13, 2009
Crime along the trail a main concern
Residents living along the proposed Bloomingdale trail say safety is a major concern. They say more people have trespassed onto the former rail line since advocacy groups began promoting the project in 2003.
During a presentation Tuesday, Bucktown resident Christine Montet questioned who will monitor the safety of the trail. “In the last couple of years, I’ve seen more graffiti,” she said.
The city has put up fences and signs to combat the problem, according to Andrew Vesselinovitch, the Chicago Parks Program director for the Trust for Public Land.
But Montet said that hasn’t solved the issue.
“[The fences] were just chain-link, so someone with wire-cutters has come up and cut through that.”
Ben Helphand, board president of Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail, said graffiti, loitering, squatters and other safety issues will only be solved with the completion of the project.
“The only long-term solution to crime is the trail itself, anything we can do to hasten its creation will bring permanent safety to that corridor.”
The development of the Bloomingdale trail is closing in on a decade, and advocates for the multiuse trail are questioning what’s taking so long. The city began plans to convert the former rail line, on Chicago's Northwest Side, into an elevated park in 2002, and officials say the project is still years away from completion.
“I would expect to see at least a part of this open within 4 years,” said Andrew Vesselinovitch, the Chicago Parks Program director for the Trust for Public Land. “But I think that is even a little optimistic.”
He says the preliminary design for the trail will be ready in two years, and at that point, they will have an answer on when the full project will be completed.
Chicagoans who attended a presentation on the trail at the Chicago Architecture Foundation Tuesday say they are supportive of the plan, but don’t understand why the deadline is so far off.
“They came to talk to us about it [a few years ago], but then I never heard anything again,” said Christine Montet, a 17-year resident of Bucktown. “I would wonder, what happened? They came, they spoke, they had this great idea, and then nothing.”
Once completed, the nearly three-mile long trail will run along Bloomingdale Avenue from Kimball Avenue on the west to Ashland Avenue on the east, and go through Humboldt Park, Logan Square, Wicker Park, and Bucktown. The project is estimated to cost $68 million and will be paid for through federal transportation funds. Vesselinovitch says the fact that the project is publicly funded is one reason for the delay.
“With a large public works project, even when it is fully funded, you have to go through various processes,” Vesselinovitch said. “You have to have public hearings, certain ways of hiring contractors to do the work, reviews. So it just takes time.”
Officials originally aimed for 2016 as a completion date, so that the trail would be up and running during the Olympic games. But with Chicago losing the bid, that aim is no longer necessary.
“Right now 2016 isn’t a deadline for anything,” Vesselinovitch said. “On the other hand, I think now it will be easier to focus on some of the city’s other priorities.”
