MCCD Moves Forward With Trail That Would Connect Crystal Lake to Woodstock

Photo credit: McHenry County Conservation District

The McHenry County Conservation District Board of Trustees has hired an engineering firm to draft plans that would connect two existing portions of Ridgefield Trace at Oak Street in Crystal Lake -- a project that has been in the works for almost a decade, the Northwest Herald reports.

Ridgefield Trace is currently a looped 1.5-mile trail that travels from McHenry County College to west of Oak St. in Crystal Lake. The trail picks up again from the local neighborhood east of Oak Street and travels to Walkup Road in Crystal Lake, accessing Crystal Lake Park District’s Veteran Acres Park, according to the McHenry County Conservation District.

“The two sections are divided due to an active railroad crossing that has yet to receive funding for a safe passage,” according to MCCD.

Crystal Lake-based Baxter and Woodman will be tasked with analyzing the site, working with Union Pacific officials and then designing the trail, the Northwest Herald reports. And that point, the project can be put out for bid.

The final phase of the regional trail is expected to extend the trail westbound from the college to Woodstock, according to MCCD. The project is meant to be completed in conjunction with the widening of Route 14.

Construction is expected to start on the final portion of the trail in 2017, according to the Northwest Herald.

Read more on the Northwest Herald.