The Centennial Trail/I&M Canal Trail extends 12.5 miles in three segments between the Cook County line and the City of Joliet.

At 135th Street in Romeoville, the trail passes over a historic swing bridge, which for many years spanned the Des Plaines River on 135th Street. The District worked with the Village of Romeoville and the Illinois Department of Transportation to relocate and preserve the bridge.

Trail users can park at a small parking facility located at Schneider's Passage on 135th Street. Ample additional parking is available at Isle a la Cache Museum, 0.25-mile west of the trail, where trail users can stop to check out exhibits interpreting the late 18th-century fur trade between Native Americans and French voyageurs.

From 135th Street, the recently paved trail heads north for 3 miles through wetlands and woodlands to Keepataw Bridge. In Cook County, the trail extends an additional 9.5 miles to Columbia Woods at Willow Springs Road.

In 2011 and 2012, the District is developing the Veterans Memorial Trail across the Des Plaines River to the Centennial Trail from Keepataw Preserve north to Bluff Road. View more information about this project.

A second segment of the Centennial Trail/I&M Canal Trail runs from 135th Street south to Second Street in Lockport along the I&M Canal for a distance of 3.25 miles. The crushed limestone trail travels through open fields and passes historic canal locks. In Lockport, the trail connects to Lockport Township Park District's I&M Canal Trail, which links to the Park District's Dellwood and Dellwood West Parks.

From Lockport, the trail travels south through our Joliet Iron Works Historic Site. This 2.7-mile section is surfaced with crushed limestone. Plenty of parking is available at the Joliet Iron Works Historic Site, on Columbia Street in downtown Joliet. Trail users can stop here to learn about Joliet's history as the "City of Steel and Stone."

Street routes from Joliet Iron Works connect the trail to the State of Illinois' I&M Canal State Trail to the southwest, our Old Plank Road Trail to the east, and our Wauponsee Glacial Trail to the southeast.

Photograph Courtesy of Ron Molk