Did You Know?
North Side Lakefront Trail detour starts Monday
To make way for trail separation, the park district plans to close the Lakefront Trail between Diversey and North Avenue and redirect users to a marked detour through Lincoln Park.
See a map of the official detour from Diversey to North Avenue.
After breaking ground on the project over the weekend, the temporary closure will take effect Monday, May 22 and is expected to last about three months. Active Trans and the Chicago Area Runners Association (CARA) are advising the park district throughout the trail separation planning process.
The North Side project is part of a larger plan by the Chicago Park District to create separate paths along the full length of the 18-mile Lakefront Trail by the end of 2018. It involves paving a new trail for people biking between Fullerton and North Avenue and upgrading the existing trail for people on foot.
Between North and Ohio, the biking and walking paths will be side-by-side with painted buffers on the concrete surface. There’s enough surface concrete between Oak and Ohio for that trail segment to remain open during the construction period.
See the design concepts for trail separation from Fullerton to North Avenue and Oak to Ohio.
We recently scouted the Lincoln Park detour and most of the pavement is in good condition, but users should still proceed with caution and bring lights in the evenings. We’ll be monitoring conditions and communicating with the park district throughout the construction period, so let us know if you have any feedback.
One of the pinchpoints on the detour is the narrow underpass at Diversey Avenue. Users going north on the detour looking to avoid the underpass can go past Diversey and enter the trail at Barry Avenue. Similarly, users going south on the trail may choose to exit at Barry Avenue and take the detour from there, rather than having to navigate through the narrow underpass.
See a map of an alternate detour for users who exit or enter at Barry Avenue.
Creating a continuous, quality Lakefront Trail has been one of Active Trans’ top priorities since our founding more than 30 years ago. Visit our Lakefront Trail page to learn more about our decades of trail advocacy.
Stay up to date on everything happening on the trail by following @activetransLFT and #chiLFT on Twitter. The park district will also be posting updates on the project to @ChicagoParks.
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