Veterans Memorial Trail Work Should Be Finished In November

HOMER GLEN, IL — A new 3.5-mile section of the Veterans Memorial Trail in Homer Township should be complete in November, barring any delays, according to the Forest Preserve District of Will County.

The preserve said about 80 percent of the work is complete.

The plan to build a new section of the path adjacent to I-355, also known as Veterans Memorial Tollway, dates back to 2009. According to the preserve, the new path section will start at the Spring Creek Greenway Trail in Hadley Valley preserve and head north to a state-owned trail along 159th Street in Lockport that heads east into Orland Park.

As part of the Veterans Memorial Trail project, two pedestrian tunnels have been built under Bruce Road and 167th Street, the preserve said.

The trail paving process is underway now. A base layer called binder is being placed on the trail first, the preserve said.

Afinal layer of asphalt has been applied to sections of the path north of Hadley Valley Preserve and south of Bruce Road. This work will continue until the entire trail is paved.

Also, a small portion of the Spring Creek Greenway Trail was paved as it connects to the new section of Veterans Memorial Trail.

“Most of the remaining work will take place along Gougar Road from 167th Street up to 159th Street,” said Matt Novander, the Forest Preserve’s chief landscape architect.

In mid-September, the Forest Preserve will seed the trail route with turf grass and native prairie mix.

“Anywhere there was earth work and we affected the existing grade will be seeded,” Novander said in a release.

A new fence along I-355 that keeps animals and pedestrians from the interstate is being built west of the trail, he added. Once the new fence is in place, the old one east of the trail will be removed.
One new retaining wall by 163rd Street is complete, and another delayed by utility issues should be done soon, according to the preserve.

“After that, it’s just some sewer work and paving,” Novander stated.

Eventually, two more sections of the Veterans Memorial Trail will be built, the preserve said. The new sections of path will:

• Extend north from 159th Street to connect to an existing 4.73-mile section of Veterans Memorial Trail that travels from Romeoville to Woodridge.
• Travel south from Hadley Valley preserve to Route 6 using the I-355 corridor.

“Eventually, Veterans Memorial Trail will be 13.5 to 20 miles long, depending on which routes are used to link all sections of the trail,” Novander said in a release. “It’s going to be fantastic.”