Trail Capital Improvement Plan 2021 - Forest Preserves of ...
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Trail Capital Improvement Plan 2021
Trails are one of Cook County’s greatest assets and an important “front door” to the preserves for many people, trails provide relief from the urban environment and, in some cases, a taste of a true wilderness.
GOALS OF THIS PLAN
ENSURE PEOPLE OF ALL AGES AND ABILITIES
HAVE A GOOD EXPERIENCE WHEN USING
FOREST PRESERVE TRAILS.
1. Making sure that our trails are always
in good condition.
2. Upgrading our current system.
3. Expanding our system - When are we done?
4. Parts of our system managed by others.
TRAILS- offer a range of different experiences and physical and emotional benefits for those who use them.
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND THE PRESERVES IS A NATIONAL AND REGIONAL LEADER IN PROVIDING OFF-STREET TRAILS IN AN URBAN AREA. For as long as the Preserves have existed, unpaved trails were available to the public. Paved trails were first built in the 1970’s. Used primarily for recreation, they also provide transportation opportunities for many.
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
FOREST PRESERVES OWNS AND MANAGES APPROXIMATELY 350 MILES OF TRAILS
150 MILES PAVED TRAILS & 200 MILES UNPAVED TRAILS
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
AS THE PRESERVES EXPANDED TRAIL SYSTEMS DEVELOPED
LINEAR LARGE LOOPS SMALL LOOPS HYBRID
North Branch - 36.7 M paved & unpaved Palos - 42M unpaved Vollmer Road - 3.9M paved Tinley Creek - 27.3M paved & unpaved
Thorn Creek - 29.9M paved & unpaved Sag Valley - 20.4M unpaved Arie Crown - 3.4M unpaved Spring Lake - 45.8M unpaved
Des Plaines - 28.4M unpaved Poplar Creek - 20.9M paved & unpaved Oak Forest - 2.5M paved
Salt Creek - 16.4M paved & unpaved Deer Grove - 15.5 M paved & unpaved Miller Meadow - 2.0M paved
Major Taylor - 8.1M paved Orland - 13M paved & unpaved Plum Creek - 1.8M unpaved
I & M Canal - 9.1M paved Busse Woods - 12.9M paved Dan Ryan Woods - 1.0M paved
Centennial - 9.3M paved Paul Douglas - 8.6M paved Kickapoo Woods - 1.0M paved
Cal Sag - 13M (26M planned) paved
Burnham Greenway - 11.5M paved
Menti.com WE WANT YOUR THOUGHTS…… • How do get to Forest Preserve Trails? • Which trail do you use and how often? • How often do you use Forest Preserve Trail ? • What do you use trails for? • How far do you travel to visit a Forest Preserve Trail? • What do you use trails for?
OTHER RELEVANT PLANS & POLICIES
THREE PRINCIPALS:
❖ E x p a n d i n g t h e e x i s t i n g s y s te m o f o f f - s t r ee t
t r a i l s a n d o t h e r l o w - s t r e s s r o u t es i n t o a
c o h e r en t c o u n t yw i d e n e t w o r k .
❖ E nsuring investments s er ve a gr eater num ber of
c ounty r es idents a nd m or e equitably
d i s t r i b u t ed .
❖ E n h a n c i n g f a c i l i t i es t o s u p p o r t b i k e c o m m u t i n g
a n d o t h e r p u r p o s ef u l b i k e t r i p s .
fpdcc.com/about/plans-projects/trail-master-plan/-plan/ https://cookcountybikeplan.mysocialpinpoint.com/ fpdcc.com/about/plans-projects/capital-improvement
WHY ARE WE DOING THIS PLAN?
We want to make sure people have a good
experience when using our trails, and trails
can be easily accessed by all county
residents.
For many years, the District has been playing
catch up on how we allocate funds for new
trail construction, maintaining existing trails,
and upgrading trail amenities.
Very often new trail construction would take
precedent over trail maintenance because of
available grant funds.
9
COMPETITION FOR LIMITED CAPITAL FUNDS
IN ADDITION TO 350+ MILES OF TRAILS
774 Buildings
403 Parking Lots
280 Picnic Groves
57 Comfort Stations
3 Aquatic Centers
5 Campgrounds
8 Golf Courses
6 Nature Centers
70,000+ Acres of Natural Areas
10MAINTAINING OUR CURRENT SYSTEM The highest priority is to maintain what we have.
MAINTAINING OUR CURRENT SYSTEM
PAVED TRAILS UNPAVED TRAILS
Asphalt surface- Initial construction costs are high. Stone- Lower construction costs. Mowed- as necessary
Consistent surface. Surface more rustic and challenging .
Alignment can be easily changed due to
Future maintenance cost are lower. Maintenance is as needed, and often more erosion or water issues.
frequent.
30-year cycle for major rehab.
Difficult to map.
No uniform useful life.MAINTAINING OUR CURRENT SYSTEM
OLD SYSTEM FORMULA BASED NEW TECHNOLOGY “DATA BIKE”
YEARLY BUDGET $850,000 PAVEMENT DATA COLLECTOR
1/30th of PAVED TRAIL SYSTEM or +/-5 MILES PER YEAR PROVIDES MORE ACCURATE DATA DRIVEN INFORMATION
TO: Michael Hart: Trails Manager
FROM: : Division Superintendent,
SUBJECT: Monthly Trail Reports
All trails within the Division have been periodically inspected during
the month of . The dates and the staff employees who conducted the trail
Inspections are listed below.
Date Inspected By Date Inspected By
Date Inspected By Date Inspected By
Date Inspected By Date Inspected By
Date Inspected By Date Inspected By
Corrective Actions made by Division personnel, major improvement projects, and any accidents on trails
Incidents involving injury of Forest Preserve patrons must be documented on the next following page.MAINTAINING OUR CURRENT SYSTEM
UNRECOGNIZED PATHS/SHORTCUTS
CREATED BY PEOPLE & WILDLIFE NOT MAINTAINED OR MAPPEDMAINTAINING OUR CURRENT SYSTEM
BRIDGES, UNDERPASSES, BOARDWALKS
97 BRIDGES & 35 UNDERPASSES
REQUIRE REGULAR INSPECTIONS, MAINTENANCE, REPAIRS AND REPLACEMENT
MAINTENANCE IS REACTIVE
INSPECTION REPORTS ON A 10 YEAR CYCLE
Over time, with urbanization, vehicle traffic on roadways has
increased along with the number of trail users, creating a need for
grade separated crossings through new bridges and underpasses.
Increased flooding and acquisition of wetlands has also driven up
the number of trail segments with boardwalks.
North Branch Trail- Lake Cook Road
North Branch Trail-
Des Plaines Trail Des Plaines Trail Busse Trail- Higgins Road Eden's UnderpassMAINTAINING OUR CURRENT SYSTEM
INTERNAL ACCESS DRIVE CROSSINGS
FOREST PRESERVE MAINTAINS:
90+ Internal Road Crossings.
INSPECTION REPORTS:
3-year cycle moving forward.
BUDGET:
Difficult to estimate
maintenance/ formula based.Irving Park Road Des Plaines Trail UPGRADING OUR CURRENT SYSTEM Continued updates provide a world class trail experience for the new visitor and the lifelong user alike.
UPGRADING OUR CURRENT SYSTEM
UPGRADES PUBLIC ROAD CROSSINGS
Preserve planners advocate for inclusion of trail crossing improvements, as part of larger roadway
improvement projects, with roadway managers (IDOT, CCDOTH and LOCAL municipalities)
FOREST PRESERVE TRAILS CROSS
120+/- Public Roads
Village of Niles Howard Street Improvement Project
https://youtu.be/xASKp57N0l0
3 minutesUPGRADING OUR CURRENT SYSTEM
TRAILHEADS & SIGNAGE
A “trailhead” is a point of formal public entry into the trail system that may provide certain related
public facilities such as: parking, restrooms, drinking fountains, trail signage, etc.
North Branch Trail, Harms WoodsUPGRADING OUR CURRENT SYSTEM
WAYFINDING & ACCESSIBILITY
Wayfinding helps shape the experience
Orienting Where am I? Where do I want to go?
What direction is it, and how far away?
How long will it take? Is that the right route for me?
En-route Am I going the right way?
ADDING MAPS How far to my destination? What else is near here?
ORIENTING & MARKERS
Arrival Is this the right place? Do I want to stop here?
Are there amenities here that I need?
AM, I GOING
YOU ARE HERE DEGREE OF
THE RIGHT
MARKERS DIFFICULTY
WAY ?Menti.com WE WANT YOUR THOUGHTS…… • How do you get information about our trails? • How often do you use your smart phone to access Forest Preserve Trail Maps?
UPGRADING OUR CURRENT SYSTEM RESPONSIBILITY FOR FUTURE MAINTENANCE BY OTHERS With partnerships, we can take on more.
Thorn Creek Trail, Sweet Woods EXPANDING OUR SYSTEM When are we done?
EXPANDING OUR SYSTEM
GAPS IN THE SYSTEMEXPANDING OUR SYSTEM
TRAILS ON NEWLY ACQUIRED LAND
2000 Forest Preserve Opportunity Map Southeast Land Acquisition Opportunities- Deer Creek AreaEXPANDING OUR SYSTEM
TRAIL CONNECTIONS BY OTHERS
Hoffman Estates – Village & Park District,
Village of Rosemont
FPCC Village of Schaumburg
Village of Skokie
Elk Grove Village, FPCC Elk Grove Village Calumet CityEXPANDING OUR SYSTEM
MUNICIPAL PARTNER TRAIL REQUEST PROCESS
The Forest Preserves encourages
connections to provide broader
access to our regional trails,
assuming they can be done with
minimal environmental impacts ,
and have a local sponsor to design,
construct and maintain.EXPANDING OUR SYSTEM
PRIORITIZE TRAIL CAPITAL NEEDS PRESENT & FUTURE
The Preserves is currently studying our trail systems
and working on what “gaps” remain in our system.
The Trail Gap Study will help us determine what few
trail gaps remain that would make our regional trail
system complete and effective in getting the public
around the county.
As we acquire land the Preserves typically leverages
grants, grants typically require public access to newly
acquired land and this is typically done in the form of
trails.EXPANDING OUR SYSTEM
TRAIL PARTNERS
FOREST PRESERVES
CCDOTH IDOT
CITY OF LOCAL
CHICAGO MUNICIPALITIES
IDNRTIMELINE & NEXT STEPS
This Plan is intended to provide a framework for maintaining our current system, upgrading our
current system, expanding our system , answering the question- When are we done?, addressing
maintenance and key gaps in the regional trail system, parts of our system managed by others and to
inform the annual update to the 5-Year Capital Improvement Plan and serve as a companion to the
Cook County Bike Plan https://cookcountybikeplan.mysocialpinpoint.com/ and the
Forest Preserve’s Trail Master Plan & Policy.
TIMELINE
Summer 2021 November 2021 January 2022
Prioritize projects for Finalized and Posted Trail Capital
Introduce “CIP” to Capital
2022 Capital Improvement Plan Plan on Forest Preserves Project
Development Committee
“CIP” Web-Page
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT: FPDCC.comQuestions?
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