$5.3 Million Grant Awarded For Veterans Memorial Trail Extension

HOMER GLEN, IL — A $5.3 million federal grant has been awarded for a new 3.5-mile section of the Veterans Memorial Trail. According to the Forest Preserve District of Will County, the paved trail will be built in Homer Township from 159th Street, just east of I-355, south to Hadley Valley preserve.

Construction on the new trail section should begin in 2020.

According to the district, the northern section of the new trail segment will connect to a path the Illinois Department of Transportation is building along the north side of 159th Street from I-355 east to Route 45. The southern section of the new Veterans Memorial Trail segment will connect to the district's Spring Creek Greenway Trail.

The grant will pay for 80 percent of the Veterans Memorial Trail extension. The city of Lockport is contributing $575,000 for the project, which will help the district pay its 20 percent grant match, the district said.

“The city recently completed its Bike Path Master Plan Survey and the Veterans Memorial Trail is a huge part of that plan,” City Manager Ben Benson said in a release. “We’re really looking forward to this new trail extension.”

Eventually, the district said the Veterans Memorial Trail will stretch from Woodridge south to New Lenox.

"With more than 20 years in planning and engineering, we look forward to helping make the tollway a truly multimodal transportation corridor," Ralph Schultz, the district's chief operating officer, said in a release.

After this segment of trail is completed, four more sections of the trail will be constructed in the future from 159th Street north to 135th Street and east to the district's Schneider's Passage trailhead; 135th Street north to 127th Street and the Lemont Park District’s Centennial Park in Cook County; the northern bank of Spring Creek south across the creek to the edge of Hadley Valley preserve; and the Hadley Valley preserve boundary south to Route 6 across the street from Silver Cross Hospital.

"The Forest Preserve has worked with many partners on this project to provide the kind of long-distance trail connections that bikers, runners and hikers are seeking," Schultz said. "And these are the kinds of recreational options that improve the region’s quality of life and promote fitness and family time.”