Veterans Memorial Trial Extension Now Open In Homer Township

HOMER GLEN-LOCKPORT, IL — The Forest Preserve District of Will County cut the Veterans Memorial Trail extension ribbon on Oct. 28. The new 3.5-mile section of the trail in Homer Township is officially opened, the preserve said.

The new section of the trail travels from the Spring Creek Greenway Trail in Hadley Valley preserve in New Lenox to the 159th Street Bikeway in Homer Glen.

The bikeway in Homer Glen then links to a trail system in and around Orland Park, and from there, path users can travel east on trails into Chicago or north in DuPage County, according to the preserve.

Forest Preserve District Board President Joe VanDuyne cut the ribbon with fellow commissioners at the path’s pedestrian tunnel under 167th Street.

VanDuyne thanked the partners who helped make the $7.5-million project a reality, including the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, the City of Lockport, the Village of Homer Glen, ComEd and other state and federal agencies.

“By working with other agencies, municipalities, park districts and private developers, we can connect our forest preserves, our communities and our residents,” VanDuyne said in a release. “Together we achieve more.”

The trail also includes a pedestrian tunnel under Bruce Road. The Tollway provided a 15- to 20-foot-wide corridor for portions of the path, according to the preserve.

Cassaundra Rouse, executive director of the Tollway, congratulated the Forest Preserve District on the project's completion.

“You’ve done a great job building this beautiful new trail that’s perfect for biking, rollerblading, running, hiking – and in the winter months – cross-country skiing and snowshoeing,” she said in a release. “We are very happy to have played a role in supporting this accomplishment that will benefit residents for generations to come.”

The intergovernmental agreement with the Tollway that led to the path also provided mitigation funding for the Forest Preserve’s largest wetland, prairie, stream and habitat reconstruction at Hadley Valley, said Ralph Schultz, the Forest Preserve's executive director.

The Veterans Memorial Trail will eventually be extended north from 159th Street to an existing section in DuPage Township, the preserve said. That section of trail travels 3.26 miles east from 135th Street in Romeoville to Interstate 355. From I-355, the path travels north 1.47 miles to Internationale Parkway in Woodridge. In the other direction, the new trail section in Homer Township will be extended south to Route 6 in New Lenox near Silver Cross Hospital.

“We believe that a focus on connecting our forest preserves will ultimately provide a regional trail network that will reach into all of our communities and provide access to nature for everyone,” Schultz said in a release. “Once completed, the Veterans Memorial Trail will provide direct connections to residents in Will, DuPage and Cook counties to our collective natural and cultural resources, civic and commercial areas, our communities, and our neighbors, friends and families.”