Elmhurst Salt Creek Trail debate
Elmhurst has a strong bicycle trail network and many devoted bicycle riders, but this is what we have to deal with concerning a short link needed for the Salt Creek Greenway Trail:
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by mike w. on
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OOOOH, bikes on a residential street! Oh, my! What next, socialism??
These folks need to get a life. i hope all chainlinkers in the western burbs show up on the 12th.
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Permalink Reply by Duppie on
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Not sure what the issue is here. It looks like a number of concerned citizens that prefer a different solution than the one the park district proposes. That is how democracy works, no? You oppose something, you let your voice be heard.
Mind you, they are not against the trail itself, just opposing the favored solution
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Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on
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It sounds like NIMBY to me. But one of the great beauties of an off-road trail is that one can ride relatively long distances without constantly referring to a map. Often when a trail dumps me out onto unfamiliar streets even for a short connection I either get lost or spend way too much time navigating.
If there really is a viable off-street alternative here - and that is unclear to me, then it may be that in this case NIMBY might work out for us this time.
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Permalink Reply by millenial removing Bernie tattoo on
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I rode that trail this weekend. They're delusional if they think those streets are unsafe (which they don't, they're just being NIMBY). I don't understand how putting the trail on the west side of the creek will help things, because the park ends and they then would have to route traffic on a sidewalk along Kingery Hwy (really fun for recreational riders).
The first couple of miles of the trail go on residential streets in Elk Grove Village-- how many accidents and drug dealers did that bring to them?
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chrisc927 said:IMO a paved bike trail along the back propertly line might actually provide a bump to property values in this case.
Guess I now have plans on the 12th. Thanks for the heads-up.
Looking at Google Earth, I don't think you could run a trail all the way from Crescent St. to the IPP without imminent domaining some people's backyards (not going to happen).
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I really don't know what to say about this. All I have to go off of is Google Earth for this portion of the path---I've never been up there. It would seem to me---at least, if I was riding there---that as it is now, I would most certainly continue riding on the "wooded" section up to Rex (where it exits) and continue the block or two to the obvious connection of the Prairie Path.
It sorta sounds to me like there may have been arguments (for whatever reason) between one or a couple of residents of Rex with passing bikers. Now, when the Park District wants to publicly sanction what is already happening---perhaps, even, divert bike traffic off of non-paved sections of path to retain or restore a slow, quiet walking environment for local residents---this earlier grudge forms into bitter action against such "official" sanctioning.
Why not move the path as suggested? Probably, for the most obvious reason of expense. Second, the park department would have to blaze a new corridor through the wooded section abutting the creek. Whether or not they care about removing the greenery to do so, it would be a large job to fell the mature trees along the route. Third, it looks to me like the proposed route would encroach on city land---the treatment plant. Now you must convince the city to allow that.
In a perfect world, yes, I would highly discourage the trail from entering residential streets. It would be beautiful if it arched through the woods abutting the creek with its own generous right-of-way. Unfortunately, that is not how history played out.
In a perfect world the Parks department would hire a young, aspiring architect to launch the greenway path over and above the creek and seamlessly connect with the PP via a raised lane merging with the Rte.83 overpass. :)
I can dream, right?
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Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on
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I've actually gone over that woodchip section of the trail on 700x25c tires. It's pretty well packed down. The street works just as well though. And it's not crowded at all.
chrisc927 said:I for one would like to see the wood chip trail section paved. It's because of the wood chips that I'm forced to divert ONTO Rex Blvd when biking north. Additionally I would like to see said paved trail continue from the south terminus of Rex to the IPP Main Stem.
I find the argument about property value depreciation to be humorous. These people live within eyesight of and directly downwind of a sewage treatment plant. IMO a paved bike trail along the back propertly line might actually provide a bump to property values in this case.
Guess I now have plans on the 12th. Thanks for the heads-up.
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Permalink Reply by Elliot Bennett on
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"We are simply trying to stop the redirection of this route from a safe bike trail through pristine parkland versus narrow, dangerous residential streets in the local neighborhood. No one is telling cyclists or trail users there has been a history of car/bike collisions on these streets, and in one case a cyclist’s death (no one was at fault, the streets are simply too narrow) on one of these same streets."
Taken from the "information section. "no one was at fault" cager code for "I hit a bicycle with my car becuase I wasn't paying attention"
crap.
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Permalink Reply by Robert Guico on
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Disclaimer: I've never ridden this trail. I plan to someday.
My old hometown, the village of Roselle (and Bloomingdale Township) routed the North Central DuPage Trail along about 1.5 miles of residential street south of the Roselle train station. To my best knowledge, no one filed a single complaint about its routing. Nobody complained that lives on the portions where the street is 25 feet wide (as wide as the streets the folks in Elmhurst are getting angry about). Nobody complained that lives on the portions where the street is 20 feet wide (from experience, it's somewhat harrowing in the dark).
This might be because very few people I know ride the route end-to-end, but I digress. :-D
As far as I know, the signs were put up one day, and life went on.
I fail to see how residents could be concerned about a single 250 pound cyclist traveling at 15 mph, when the greater, ignored danger is the 4,000 pound car traveling 25-30 mph up and down the same street.
If this really is the best way to form a Salt Creek Trail connector, how about someone suggest a well-designed bicycle boulevard?
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Permalink Reply by Anne on
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Count me in! what does it take to become a member of BRDDHINV?!?! Will you have jersey design contest?
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As president of the local chapter of The Bike-Riding, Drug-Dealing, Home-Invading Noisy Vandals Society (BRDDHINV), this damn wood chip path has been the final obstacle to our global domination of the world. Soon all will be ours!
muahaha
MUAHAHAHA
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The attached sign popped up on the proposed route.
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