Today the Chicago Parks District unveiled its website for the expanded Lake Front Trail, a project paid for by (evil?) billionaire Ken Griffin.
The plan calls for segregated pedestrian and bike paths along the entirety of the 18-mile-long Lake Front Trail. Let’s look at some of the cool renderings:
First: North to Fullerton
Click here for a very large version.
The stretch near Fullerton is 36′ wide. Wow. For reference, the 606 Trail is only 14′ wide–a 10-foot main path with 2-foot running paths on either side.
Here’s a complicated section near the North Ave. underpass:
It’s like the bike/pedestrian version of Grand Crossing.
Preformed thermoplastic can be slippery for cyclists when wet, which would be a problem. But we aren’t thermoplastic engineers, so we’ll assume they have it figured out.
Next: Ohio to Oak
Mostly the same, but with the new connector trail south of the Ohio Street beach.
Click here for a very large version.
How exciting. The first segment, from 41st to 35th, is scheduled to open this Spring. The next two segments, spanning collectively from Ohio to Fullerton, are supposed to open this summer. The fourth planned segment, from 56th to 41st, will apparently open in Fall 2017, but it’s still in the design phase.
Chicago Bike Report 
This is awesome. As someone who loves running on the trail, this is going to be great. I hate having to dodge bikers and I think this will help to greatly improve the relationship between runners and bikers. Also, I’m super excited to try riding my bike up and down the trail. It’s so nice to see positive new coming out of Chicago!
Hopefully be continue to build more stuff like this and the 606 and expand it. It would be nice if one day the 606, this, and the trail they’re building in Pilsen all connected.
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Agreed. The timetable seems a bit optimistic, but they’re capitalizing on one of Chicago’s best resources and making it even better.
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