Project Update: Plum Creek Greenway Trail extension is underway
Editor’s note: If you notice repair or building activities in the preserves this construction season and wonder what is happening, Cindy Wojdyla Cain, the Forest Preserve public information officer, will be providing online Project Update reports with all the information you need to stay up to date.
Plum Creek Greenway Trail is heading south.
A new 1.5-mile trail section will wend its way through a hilly part of Plum Valley Preserve and a short street route before it joins another section of trail at Goodenow Grove Nature Preserve in Crete Township.
Contractors are currently installing sections of a precast concrete pedestrian boardwalk to elevate the path in a sensitive ecological area. Each concrete section weighs 4,000 pounds. There will be one 600-foot section and another 200-foot section of boardwalk.
A bridge that will span Plum Creek will be installed later in April once concrete abutments have been poured and cured. The 150-foot bridge will be the largest single-span bridge in the District.
The project’s estimated completion date is fall 2026.
The trail extension will consist of 0.5 mile of crushed limestone, 0.5 mile of asphalt and 0.5 mile of street route. It is being added to the existing 1-mile crushed limestone trail segment that extends south from the Plum Valley Preserve entrance and dog park.
The short street connection will be marked with street signs and pavement directions leading path users from the new section of the trail to an existing 3.15-mile section of the Plum Creek Greenway Trail at Goodenow Grove.
Future phases of the trail will provide a critical north–south connection, extending north into Cook County and south to Beecher via the proposed Vincennes Trail.
“Upon completion, the project will eliminate a gap in the existing trail system, resulting in a continuous greenway trail connection between Goodenow Grove Nature Preserve and the Plum Valley Preserve – Burville Road access,” said Colleen Novander, the Forest Preserve District’s director of planning and land preservation.
The multi-use trail will be 10 feet wide with 3-foot turf shoulders on each side. Construction will be confined to a designated corridor with a maximum width of 100 feet, which was determined during the engineering phase to minimize impacts to existing natural features, including wetlands, ravines, vegetation, and sensitive habitats.
The project is locally funded by the Forest Preserve District's Capital Improvement Program, with supplemental funding support provided through the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s 2024–2028 Locally Programmed Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP-L).
