The Missing Link
Considering how unlikely it is that the Peoria trail advocates are going to succeed in tearing out the Kellar Branch, I thought I’d take a moment to show how a similar project was done in Madison, Wisconsin with some photos courtesy of my Madisonian brother.
Looking down on the bike path running through a residential neighborhood, such as we have in the north Peoria/Alta area where the Rock Island Trail currently exists.
Scenic view of the bike path running alongside Lake Monona, similar to our own path along the riverfront.
This is the what was known as “the missing link,” i.e. the section needed to connect opposite ends of the trail through the heavy industrial part of downtown. Notice the lack of fencing and the close proximity of the trail to the railroad cars.
To me, this is one of the most interesting portions of the trail. This is the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Convention Center, and is utilized as part of the trail. During conventions I’m told you’ll find a bunch of suits on the balcony taking smoke breaks while bikers weave their way through the crowd.
The point I’m trying to make is that they faced similar obstacles in Madison as we do here in Peoria, but instead of wasting their time trying to rip out viable rail lines of which they have no authority to do anyway, they put their collective heads together and figured out a solution, even if that meant butting the trail right up against the railroad tracks and using a portion of the Civic Center’s porch.
In the email containing these photos, my brother shared these thoughts:
In order to make a bike path fit into a pre-established city (as opposed to be planned into a new subdivision/suburb at the same time that the houses are being built and roads paved) the planners need to be flexible as cities are not cookie cutter. In Madison they’ve made what seems to have been the best choices given the logistics. Over the course of my 5 mile each way commute, the trail runs over converted train track, alongside existing tracks, on the street, on a widened sidewalk and even on an observation deck of the convention center. Sure it’s not all pretty & scenic, but the point in Madison at least is that the trail serves as a safe, efficient multi-use conduit in the city center for bicyclists, joggers, in-liners, walkers etc… Sure we have tourists who come to ride the network of trails, but mostly it’s a quality of life enhancer for Madisonians.
I say we invite someone from Madison to the next Peoria Park Board meeting to show them how it can be done, since obviously Peorians either doesn’t have the ingenuity to pull this off or we just don’t want it bad enough to make it work.
October 31st, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Wisconsin is truly a trail blazer in the rails to trails program. (Pardon the pun) Fron the Horicon Trail, The Sparta Elroy trail and many more.
There is another rail that has been abandoned in Limestone Township. Since it does not connect the affluent suburbs it is not any radar. The track starts at Kickapoo Creek Road and goes out through Trivoli, and into the Coal area of Western IL. It could hook up with Taylor Road to Wildlife Prairie Park.
I am sure it is overlooked due to the lack of connection to the North West Burb’s. It is a place that should be looked at for future growth before it is lost. If you look at the abandoned rail that stretched from Morton to Bloomington. That land was lost to farmers and businesses.
It would be great to have more trail options in the area.
October 31st, 2007 at 8:50 pm
ilstateredbird, The rail line that you that you wrote about is owned by the Union Pacific Railroad and has been officially railbanked and not abandoned. The Union Pacific is keeping ownership of the line in case a business would arise between Peoria and Middlegrove or even beyond. This was originally the Iowa Central Railroad, then the M&SL, Minneapolis and StLouis Railway, and the C&NW, Chicago and Northwestern before being bought by the Union Pacific. Since the UP has done their legal due diligence and until they decide to ask the STB to officially abandon the line (which may never happen) this line will not become a hiker/biker trail.
October 31st, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Ilstateredbird, By the way, How is it that former railroad properties that go to farmers (the salt of the Earth) or businesses (providing JOBS for the many) suddenly a bad thing? Land being used by farmers or business IS NOT LOST. There are plenty of rural roads for folks to hike and bike on; more land off the tax rolls and onto the government taxing rolls is not needed. I think what should be addressed by government is urban and suburban sprawl. Cities need to be kept more compact to cut energy use and make for more efficient public transportation. When towns expand sidewalks and bike lanes should be required then separate bike trails would not be needed. Why can’t we work for this goal instead of attacking railroads, farmers and other business?
October 31st, 2007 at 9:49 pm
To add to Ed’s comments, the reason Union Pacific has not sought permission to abandon that 24.5-mile line that roughly parallels Rt. 116 is Allied Waste Handling’s Spoon Ridge Landfill. The landfill, which is on formerly strip mine land, and is unsuitable for farming, has been closed since 1998, but will someday return to operation, probably to receive Chicago garbage. If and when that occurs, Union Pacific will rebuild the line to again handle trains.
November 1st, 2007 at 8:35 am
Madison is one on of my favorite places. If it wasn’t so far from my favorite people I would live there. When I visited Madison in August I went with a friend to take some pictures too. I was going to start blogging, but I really am not that interesting. The pics aren’t as pretty as yours, but we were focusing on how close the trail is to the active tracks. I can’t remeber if the path was 14 steps wide and 9 steps from track or vice versa. The much of the city is so bike and pedestrian friendly but that doesn’t mean it is auto unfriendly. Everything is balanced. So much talk about being the San Fransico of the Midwest, I think we should be the Madison of Illinois.
http://tinyurl.com/ywoz5p
November 1st, 2007 at 10:09 am
Amen Bean Counter. I have never liked the idea of being the San Francisco of the Midwest. I’ve lived in San Francisco and while it has its points it has no business here in the Midwest. We can have it all right here in Peoria. We can have rails and trails and benefit everybody and live life to the fullest. Let’s quit all this bickering and spend that time and money and energy working together to get it done for all. I would dearly love to see both rails and trails complimenting one another right here in the heart of Peoria.
November 1st, 2007 at 7:53 pm
[...] more excellent posts on the Kellar Branch, see Billy Dennis’s and PeoriaIllinoisan’s [...]
November 19th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
[...] As I’ve said before, we can have this connecting trail, but only if the trail-only advocates deal with the reality of the situation and figure out an alternate solution instead of trying stunt growth and encourage businesses to locate out of town. [...]