Weber Spur joins the Sauganash Trail & the North Branch Trail

This is starting to get federal attention!

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170403/sauganash/mike-quigley-nor...

Rep. Mike Quigley (on the left) inspecting the Weber Spur trail:

I road out to the intersection of the Weber Spur and the unfinished North Branch Trail yesterday. 

Looking north from the junction of the North Branch and the Weber Spur: (North about 2000-feet to Bryn Mawr and the Sauganash Trail)

Looking south from the junction to the Weber Spur (which could extend to Foster, the Elston Bike lane, or as far as Sunnyside)

You can ride on this section from Gompers Park on the east or the parking lot in LaBaugh Woods on the west.  High-pressure road tires not recommended but hybrid or dirt tires would be OK.

I'm not sure when construction will resume but it you want a look in advance I'd do it soon because the No-Trespassing threat will begin when construction does resume.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Z on April 4, 2017 at 2:46am

Very interesting, thanks for posting.

Permalink Reply by Mark on April 4, 2017 at 3:27am

Very much hoping this section of the Weber Spur gets paved, as it will greatly improve access to the North Branch Trail from Bryn Mawr.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on April 4, 2017 at 6:10am

I would have agreed with you until recently when they completed the 1st part of the extension.

This first part resolved the biggest pain points: No more crossing Caldwell at the golf course, no more riding on Devon in Edgebrook. All that has been resolved already. The remaining road riding in Sauganash is not that bad. I would argue that approaching the NBT from Bryn Mawr is a pretty good ride nowadays

Permalink Reply by Mark on April 4, 2017 at 7:52am

Agreed, but this would be the icing on the cake.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on April 4, 2017 at 7:57am

Yes, it would be icing on the cake.

Permalink Reply by Jared on April 4, 2017 at 10:18am

They already have the north branch trail extending to Foster, so I'm not sure how much more useful this is.

Permalink Reply by Bob Kastigar on April 4, 2017 at 3:00pm

This 2000 foot long section is very useful - it connects together THREE additional trails:

On the south end of this 2000 foot section is the North Branch Trail.

At the north end, at Bryn Mawr, it connects to the the trail with many names: The Sauganash Trail, the Valley Line Trail or the Skokie Line Trail.  This trail has already been paved and expanded into Lincolnwood and beyond, up to Dempster and of the Yellow Line of the CTA.  This trail shows up on Google Maps, if you view "Bicycle" marks.  Along Pratt, it's about a half-mile west of Lincoln Avenue.

http://tinyurl.com/kprhcll

Bryn Mawr is a Y-section, and to the right is the Weber Spur Trail.  None of this has been paved or prepared in Chicago, but Lincolnwood has paved the trail north of Devon.  It doesn't show up on Google maps (yet) but if you use Google Earth you can trace it all the way further north to Evanston where it will (someday) join the Green Bay Trail. Along Pratt, it's about a half-mile east of Lincoln Avenue.

The Chicago section of the Weber Spur can been seen on this picture.  The short 2000-foot section linking the trails is about one-half of Reach 3, from Bryn Mawr south to the river.  Reach 1-2-3-4 and part of Reach (south to Lawrence Avene Bike Lane) could be built very easily.  The last section south, to Sunnyside crosses several railroads and expressways - but the bridges are already in place.



This Y-Section at Bryn Mawr can be seen on this screen-grab:


Recently I learned that Lincolnwood wasn't just able to step in and take over either of the land for these two additions.  Lincolnwood hand to BUY the land from the Union Pacific.  Abandoning a railroad doesn't mean that anybody can just step in and take it over.  So far, I don't think Chicago has bought any of this land.

There is already plans for building housing adjacent to this 2000-foot section of the Weber Spur,  Information about this is at

http://www.sauganash.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Bryn-Mawr_Kostn...


If this ever comes to pass you can only imagine the opposition that would take place about any further expansion or extension of this small section of the Weber Spur.

This 2000-foot section is very useful in joining the three trails but also useful in getting the whole project started inside the city of Chicago.  

Write to Alderman Margaret Laurino and express your support for this. Ward39@cityofchicago.org

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