Where the heck is the Weber Spur Bike Trail?!

In the last twelve years, we have walked down this abandoned trail track virtually every week. When we first moved int our house near the corner of Bryn Mawr and Kostner, there was an occasional rail maintenance car that went along the track. For many years, there has been nothing. We, and many of our neighbors use the right of way for walking, jogging, skiing, and as an access route to the adjacent LaBagh Woods Forest Preserve and Chicago River.

I have conducted nature walks with my kids along this track, spying on wildlife large and small, and picking out the native plants from the invasives.

Deer like to hang out in the clearing in the woods visible from the train track.


We have found praying mantises and their coccoons along the tracks.

Goldenrods, milkweed and native asters grow abundantly here, along with attractive but terribly invasive teasels.


A dilapidated rail bridge offers glimpses of the Chicago River.

This quiet and somewhat forgotten corridor is hardly a place of pristine and undisturbed beauty. It's strewn with broken glass, beer cans, discarded car tires and other debris that people frequently leave in places that no one seems to own. But with a little work, this route would make one heck of a bike path.

Imagine our surprise, when one day we came home to the sound of heavy machinery working, accompanied by loud metallic clanking. We went out to the track to see what was going on, and discovered that the track was being ripped out. The workmen said something about rails-to-trails, but were unable to provide any more information. They were simply hired by Union Pacific to rip out the track.

A call to alderman Margaret Laurino's office also produced no immediate insights. The person we spoke with was unaware of any plans for the railway corridor. However, she took down the information, and the next day we received a call from a representative from the Pulaski Industrial Corridor and explained that Union Pacific has lease the land it owns to be converted to a recreational trail.

I sent an email to Randy Neufeld of Active Transportation Alliance asking if he knew what was being planned. He wasn't sure, but forwarded my email to Keith Privett at the City of Chicago. Usually, bike projects create a buzz in the Chicago cycling community and among the neighbors. The proposed Bloomingdale Trail in Bucktown even has its own website, and last year, a short, one mile section of trail along the old Valley Line Rail was inaugurated with great fanfare. So, although what the lady from the Industrial Corridor said sounded really good, we were skeptical.

However, after a couple of days Keith Privett sent an email back, confirming the plans. He stated that a trail is being planned for the Weber Spur, which will run through Lincolnwood from approximately Touhy Avenue south toward Elston. He explained that Ald. Laurino herself is familiar with, and has long supported the trail project, but her office may not have known that the Union Pacific crew would be out there removing track metal already.

This is approximately where the new bike trail would be. It would give southbound suburban and northwest side cyclists access to downtown via the Elston bike lane, and northbound riders from the city access to the Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park trail.

Exciting stuff. Why aren't more people talking about it?

Comments

[sarah]

I'd love to see the southern section for the North Branch Trail finished up to go from the current end at Devon through LaBagh Woods to connect the trail to the bike route on Lincoln as it's had that dotted 'proposed' line for years.

http://www.cityofchicago.org/Transportation/bikemap/usemap/5-J.html

The place where it dumps you at Devon is very hostile to cyclists especially going south on Central through Indian Roads Wood Preserve to get to Elston. And the spur joining the trail to bike lane on the streets and Devon & Milwaukee is hardly a cakewalk either as it's a large, fast moving intersection.

Connect the North Branch Trail to the slower moving streets with city drivers at Lawrence and Lincoln would be much nicer. http://www.cityofchicago.org/Transportation/bikemap/usemap/6-M.html

I don't know what the hold-up is. This would provide a seamless and safe way for city residents to bike through the park all the way to the botanical garden! Not to mention make my commute a lot more hassle free.

[Justyna]

I would avoid that section of Central at all costs. That S-curve south of Devon is extremely dangerous. Instead, head east on Devon just past the library and follow the side streets (Spokane to Leoti to Leader), cross Caldwell (the only dangerous spot here), and follow the bike route signs through the quiet neighborhood streets of Sauganash until you get to Bryn Mawr. Bryn Mawr will take you to the River Path (just east of Kedzie), which will deposit you safely on the bike lane at Lawrence.
All this notwithstanding, I agree that it would be lovely to have a more fully integrated network of off-street trails.

[Bob]

This is great information. Do you know if the trail will begin construction this summer? I am too surprised that there has been little news about this trail.

[Justyna]

I have had a lot of trouble getting any detailed info on it. I am heading out of town this week, but after I return, I plan to investigate a little more with the alderman's office, and with a couple of people at CDOT.

[Duppie]

Looking into it some more, your new Congressman seems to be a busy-bee.
Look at the link for the project appropriation request (somewhere in the middle of the page)
http://quigley.house.gov/2009/05/congressman-quigley-releases-transportation-appropriation-requests.shtml

[Duppie]

While I am all for new bike trails (rail-to-trail-conversions or otherwise), I am often miffed by the apparent randomness of it all. Last year 1 mile of the Valley Line bike path, now a few miles on the Weber spur.

Why not complete existing trails first? For example build the missing bridge across the Chicago River that would connect the Skokie Sculpture Park trail with the trail through Legion Park/River Park, so that trail users no longer have to cross the river at Lincoln Ave. Or as other posters have mentioned, complete the North Branch trail into the city.

Oh well, who am I kidding....We might as well take whatever comes our way.

[interested bike advocate]

All--FYI...the RFP is on the street...

http://tinyurl.com/WeberSpur

[Justyna]

Thank you.

[Duppie]

Good to see that the RFP is out there. This is only for the part that runs within the Chicago city limits. Anything known about the connection to the North Branch trail that runs through Lincolnwood and Skokie?

[Eric]

a shame that we can't have circulator railroad service between the MD-N line and evanston.

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