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Just wondering if anyone had any suggestion what are good routes from Pilsen to Illinois Prairie Path. Ultimate goal is to get to Lombard where I work. Any suggestion is greatly appreciated. Thx

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I'm sorry I don't have any suggestions but does anyone know if this info (about the Prairie Trail, same thing I think?) is still true and if there's a safe detour route? 

TRAIL CLOSURE - ALGONQUIN: The Prairie Trail will be closed between Main St. in Algonquin Rd. to just south of the connecting trail from a subdivision off Pyott Rd (at the Material Service wash plant). There will be no access from the Meyer Road Parking Lot until July 30th to ALL thru trafficThe Meyer Rd. Parking Lot is closed and will reopen in mid June for southbond trail users only.

From: http://www.mccdistrict.org/web/re-bicycling.htm

I don't think its the same, Illinois Prairie Path east end starts from Maywood

Whoops, sorry for the distraction from your question! :) Too many trails and not enough brain space for me to keep them straight, apparently. 

No worries. Thanks for trying

I recently rode from Humboldt Park to the Illinois Prairie Path. 

The EASIEST route is to hop on the Blue Line to Forest Park and then bike up the hill towards the west and enter the IPP's little brother that connects Harlem Avenue in Forest Park and 1st Avenue in Maywood. 

The route I took from HP to IPP was Washington Street through the west side and Oak Park. It was very pleasant (speaking about comfortability riding in those neighborhoods). There was some mild road construction, nothing that requires any detour or avoidance. 

Are you going with someone?

You'll definitely want to study the following on a map.

Take 21st to Oakley to 25th westbound to Kostner to 26th.

At the Cicero loopy-mess do your best to stay on 26th street Westbound.

Cross Harlem, and then at some point 26th street angles right-- right about there you need to find a forest preserve entrance and get yourself onto the salt creek trail.

Exit the Salt Creek Trail northbound at 17th and take it up to the Prarie Path.  If you don't feel comfortable on main streets, there's a pretty decent sidewalk along 26th west of Harlem, and there should be side streets paralleling 17th.  Hoping a local will make some tweaks here since it;s been a while since I've done this (last time I took the Blue Line and then had a heck of a time finding the Prarie Path...)

The route of the 2012 Four Star Bike Tour was fairly good, leaving from UIC and going through Pilsen. Once you are in Cicero, 26th Street is acceptable through Cicero, Berwyn and Riverside to the Salt Creek Trail at 26th and First. Honestly, I might take that all the way to Elmhurst, where it almost intersects the Prairie Path. Other options include 17th, which is somewhat acceptable, or leaving the Salt Creek trail at Cermak and Mannheim, and taking Westchester Boulevard to the Prairie Path.

Those are my thoughts-- but I'm sure they could be refined.

Also, consider 26th street to the Salt Creek Trail to 17th.

Tim Heckman said:

The route of the 2012 Four Star Bike Tour was fairly good, leaving from UIC and going through Pilsen. Once you are in Cicero, 26th Street is acceptable through Cicero, Berwyn and Riverside to the Salt Creek Trail at 26th and First. Honestly, I might take that all the way to Elmhurst, where it almost intersects the Prairie Path. Other options include 17th, which is somewhat acceptable, or leaving the Salt Creek trail at Cermak and Mannheim, and taking Westchester Boulevard to the Prairie Path.

Those are my thoughts-- but I'm sure they could be refined.
I was probably unclear-- 17th and Westchester Boulevard are your two N/S connecting options between the Salt Creek trail and the Prairie Path. Train tracks and a creek crossing eliminate most of the side streets.

As another poster mentioned, Washington from the west side, through Oak Park, River Forest and Maywood, has reasonable traffic levels and is potentially more direct.

Westchester boulevard is good too-- IIRC I've taken it before b/c it was recommended on the (then) CBF map and it was relatively pleasant. 

Thanks for the suggestions!

If you can get out to Forest Park, I typically go via Washington or Augusta but other streets further south may work (anyone ride Jackson or Garfield through the west side?), you can enter the very start of the IPP from Concordia Cemetery on Madison. I've never had a problem riding through the cemetery but would dismount and walk through if there were mourners/funerals in progress. Where the paths merge, make a right and take the little ped bridge over the river to connect with Maybrook Dr, cross at 1st and you'll be at the start of the trail. It's super easy if you look at a map when reading the above details. 

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