Forest Preserve District receives federal funding for Route 66 trail project

The Forest Preserve District of Will County received a check for $1.1 million June 2 that will pave the way for a new trail linking the district’s longest path with Route 66 in Joliet Township.

U.S. Rep Bill Foster, D-Illinois, presented the check during a ceremony along the proposed trail route in the Preston Heights area, just south of Laraway Elementary School on Rowell Avenue.

The 1.34-mile, multiuse trail will be built on a ComEd utility corridor that links the forest preserve’s 22.42-mile Wauponsee Glacial Trail with Route 53/Chicago Street, which is also part of the historic Route 66. Trail funding is coming from an appropriation by Foster and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin in the 2023 federal budget.

The Wauponsee Glacial Trail to Route 66 Bikeway project also will establish a safe pedestrian connection to health care facilities and other regional trail systems, including the Old Plank Road Trail, I&M Canal Trail and the 20,083-acre Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.

Once the funding allocations are received, including an expected $800,000 Rebuild Illinois grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Development, the forest preserve district will begin phase one engineering of the project to develop a design and a construction timeline.

Eventually, the new trail section in Joliet Township will connect to a Route 66 bikeway that the Illinois Department of Transportation plans to build along Route 53 from Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie to just north of Interstate 80 on the south side of Joliet.

The Wauponsee Glacial Trail to Route 66 Bikeway project was first identified as a Will County priority within the Sugar Run Creek Area Neighborhood Plan, which set a vision for community reinvestment in unincorporated areas south of the city of Joliet. The plan supports the inclusion of pedestrian-friendly infrastructure.

For more information on the Forest Preserve District of Will County, visit ReconnectWithNature.org.