Work progressing on Dixon bike path extension

DIXON – The city is making progress on the $7.3 million bike path extension project that broke ground in the spring.

The project to extend the bike path 1.6 miles, stretching east on River Road toward Raynor Garage Doors and west along the river with a ramp to the viaducts running to Seventh Street, is six years in the making.

The viaducts will be landscaped with a curved boardwalk leading up to them, and the path will include lighting and other features.

The project is progressing, and stone work is being done along the path, Public Works Director Matt Heckman said.

Tree removal was done earlier this year, excavation work was completed, and sheet piling will be installed to keep the dirt in place. There were some delays with materials but nothing substantial to set the project back, Heckman said.

In April, the city won a $2.25 million transportation grant for the project, the third grant the city was awarded since 2016 through the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program. It will allow the city to cover the full path expansion and add lighting and safety features.

[ Dixon wins $2.25 million grant for bike path extension project ]

The city won a $2 million ITEP grant in 2016 and another grant for about $1.4 million in 2021.

Grants total about $5.6 million, and the local investment will be around $1.7 million.

Officials had held off on the work to settle years of environmental remediation needed at the former Dixon Iron and Metal scrapyard in order to open up a piece of pathway along the river. The city previously received about $4 million in environmental cleanup work from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the property after contaminants and heavy metals were found in the soil and in the Rock River.

In May, the city also received a $767,900 EPA brownfields grant to finish off the cleanup at the site.

[ Sauk Valley communities win $2.1 million in grants to revitalize blighted sites ]

The scrapyard is part of the Viaduct Point project, a partnership in which the city and the Lee County Industrial Development Association secured about 10 acres of land stretching from the Peoria Avenue Bridge to the viaducts with the goal of redeveloping the properties.

The ITEP bike path project is the third phase in the city’s riverfront master plan, and it will lead into the fourth phase, Project Rock, for which Dixon won a $12 million federal transportation grant to build a pedestrian bridge across the Rock River and add more trail.

The city received the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity, or RAISE, program grant last year after several years of applying.