No state funds for Channahon bike path
By Jeanne Millsap Correspondent February 6, 2013 8:06AM
Updated: March 11, 2013 6:14AM
The state last week announced the recipients of nearly $50 million to communities through the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program.
Unfortunately, Channahon’s proposed bike path was not on the list.
Approved projects include $391,000 for depot rehabilitation in nearby Dwight, $491,000 for downtown streetscape improvements in Yorkville and $605,000 to the Plainfield Township Park District for a DuPage River trail connection and bridge.
Channahon applied for a funds to construct a bike path connecting the west side of town to the east, crossing the Illinois & Michigan Canal and the DuPage River. “It’s very frustrating,” Trustee Scott McMillin said of the village’s project not being funded.
Public Works Director Ed Dolezal said the village could apply again for the next round of the program, but McMillin said he had hoped the bike path project could get off the ground sooner. The preliminary design of the path paralleling Bridge Street has been completed.
McMillin said it’s difficult for kids to get from such neighborhoods as Hunter’s Crossing to the library, baseball fields and the park district’s pool. Their options, he said, involve riding their bikes or walking along busy Route 6 or Bridge Street, which doesn’t have a shoulder.
