UP/C&NW: (Satellite)
 |
| Rick Burn posted Chicago Great Western westbound in January 1965 Grace Street Lombard IL |
 |
| Dennis DeBruler commented on Rick's post I wonder who paid for the new bridges for the Great Western Trail over Grace Street on the left and UP/C&NW on the right. https://maps.app.goo.gl/j7gAJmRJjPmHRiKN7 Mark Petersen: Dennis DeBruler You did as a taxpayer. |
They put some sharp curves in the trail so that they could build shorter bridges.
 |
| Satellite |
I got an old aerial photo to confirm that the CGW went straight over the C&NW. That is why the bridge in Rick's photo is so long for an overpass. I discovered that the route for St. Charles Road has been significantly changed.
.png) |
| 1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP |
The three bridges were built by the Village of Lombard, ribbon-cutting was August 6, 2013. The Illinois DOT did the paperwork so Lombard could get some federal bucks. DuPage County owns the Great Western Trail so I guess they own the bridges, too.
ReplyDeleteThe county bought the Great Western land in the mid-late 1980s and opened the trail in 1991. It starts at Villa Ave. in Villa Park, a couple of blocks north of the Illinois Prairie Path. It goes in a line west to to Sassafras Dr. in West Chicago. That's just a street between two subdivisions, nothing special. From there west there is rail service that connects with northbound EJ&E (now CN) "Outer Belt". There's room for some development back there after rail.
Just a note: a mile before (east of) the end, on Prince Crossing Rd. (aka "Ingleton") in West Chicago, the Prairie Path crosses the Great Western and uses a short part of the Great Western to avoid a dangerous road crossing.
The DuPage County DOT has maintained the county paths since 1985. They got into the rails to trails movement in 1964 with the CA&ERR/Illinois Prairie Path, which has worked out pretty well. Maybe they changed something in 1985 to include the planned Great Western Trail too?
That's the DuPage County section, there are plans further west.
The ROW picks up west of the DuPage Airport. There is a short section operating, west of there the ROW is unused but still exists to the Fox River in St. Charles. The bridge is marked as the Great Western trail but only ghosts lead up to it. The trail picks up west of Randall Rd. and goes on 18 miles to Sycamore. St. Charles likes the bridge but won't connect it to anything? Why don't they want the trail to go thru their city?
This link will tell you more than you can ever care about the UP (middle) bridge: https://icc.illinois.gov/docket/T2011-0019/documents/161442/files/285277.pdf
I checked Sassafras Dr., everything else is bits and pieces. I was going to Lombard but it's cold and I'm lazy.
Nothing Sammy posts comes from Wikipedia.
Lombard conned me, "ribbon-cutting was August 6, 2013" must have been the bridges only. Google Earth Pro shows that the approaches weren't done until Spring 2015. Oops.
Deletespam-spam
Delete