Trail connection project begins, linking Illinois and Michigan and Hennepin canal trails

The Starved Rock Country region is one step closer to linking the Illinois and Michigan Canal trail and the Hennepin Canal trail with a recreational path of its own.

Closing the 15-mile gap between the two canal trails has been a goal of the region dating back to the 1990s and fulfills its role in a national mission of creating a 3,700-mile trail that extends from Washington, D.C., to Washington state.

The nonprofit group Canal Trail Connector Inc., led by co-chairmen Jay McCracken and Bob Eschbach – with former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and state Sens. Sue Rezin and Win Stoller also aboard – announced Tuesday in La Salle that it has taken the first step by commissioning an engineering firm to begin a feasibility study, which is critical to attracting federal, state and private funds for the project.

Marquis Energy of Hennepin donated $100,000 to get the feasibility study underway.

“No. 1 is the study,” said LaHood, who served in Congress for 14 years. “We need to figure out the costs and the relationships with freight trains and identify the advocacy groups that may want to support the project.”

The study will take about seven months to complete, La Hood said. He and Jim Nowlan, who also is a member of the Canal Trail Connector group, will meet with freight railroad officials to discuss the project because most of the preliminary proposed routes would run adjacent to their lines.

The study also will give the project an opportunity to vie for funding from the recently passed $1 trillion federal transportation bill, LaHood said.

“We’re happy to support this project and be a part of it as members of this team,” Dustin Marquis of Marquis Energy said. “We’re excited to see the next steps.”

Former Ottawa Mayor Bob Eschbach said he is excited about the additional recreational opportunity this will provide the region, stimulating tourism and economic development and adding to residents’ quality of life. The trail will further showcase the region’s scenery, especially along the Illinois River.

The trail will connect the western terminus of the Illinois and Michigan Canal trail at La Salle to the eastern end of the Hennepin Canal trail along the Illinois River near the village of Bureau.

Todd Volker, who is a member of the Canal Trail Connector group, said the project dates back to 1992, when former County Board member Bill Brown of Utica approached the Carus corporation with the idea of using rail property the company owned as a way to connect the canal trails. Blouke Carus, who had served on the Canal Corridor Association, was interested in the project.

“It adds value to our area’s tourism offerings, and it makes our area more attractive to outside investment,” Volker said.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources assigned a staffer in 1993 to explore the idea. The idea grew to become the Grand Illinois Trail. This proposed 575-mile loop trail across northern Illinois included a southern portion as a trail connecting the Illinois and Michigan and Hennepin canal trails.

The Grand Illinois Trail runs from Chicago to the Quad Cities, north along the Mississippi River to Galena, and then back through Rockford on its way to the suburbs and downtown Chicago.

“Our area has always held the missing link,” Volker said.

Volker said the IDNR has endorsed the trail connector project, but it lacked the resources to pursue it fully.

Recently, LaHood and Nowlan met with Inga Carus, president and CEO of Carus LLC and also a member of the Canal Trail Connector group, and the idea of using the Rock Island railroad line as a connector was discussed enthusiastically.

“There’s only one way I know to get something done [and] that [is] somebody has to take the lead,” LaHood said. “Someone has to wake up every day and say, ‘What’s the next thing we need to do to move forward?’ ”

LaHood said this group has that energy, and it has moved efficiently.

The connector group is collaborating with the Washington, D.C.-based Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, which has decades of experience creating trails across the nation.

“These trails make it safe for people to walk, bike and be active outside while creating more local and regional opportunities for tourism, recreation and economic growth,” the group said in a news release Tuesday.

The group is aware of the growing attraction around outdoor recreational activity. About 115 million Americans walk for fitness each year, and the number has been growing. The Great American Rail-Trail is expected to see 2.1 million annual trips and $18.8 million in annual visitor spending along the Illinois route alone, studies have shown.

“Closing the 15-mile gap between the two canals will be like putting the buckle on the belt of this coast-to-coast trail, which is more than 60% complete right now,” Eschbach said.

The board includes McCracken, Eschbach, Carus, Nowlan, Volker, LaHood, Rezin, Marquis and Nancy Naylor, chief of staff for Stoller.