[IndianaTrails] NWI Times: Connect our region for opportunity, sustainability, wellness

[Steven Buchtel]

A cross-the-state-line coalition effort to close a gap that¹s inhibiting the
future connection of NW Indiana¹s Marquette Greenway to the Chicago
lakefront. 
URL - http://tinyurl.com/burnham-gap [Full text below ­ coalition members at
the bottom.]

Connect the region for opportunity, sustainability, wellness

| Tuesday, February 24, 2009

We are writing to urge state and federal support for a relatively small
capital expenditure that will have large public benefits. We support linking
Chicago, its Southland suburban communities and natural areas and lakefront
Indiana by closing a small gap -- the Burnham Greenway Gap -- that is the
strategic missing link in a rapidly expanding nature trail network. In the
short term, closing the Burnham Greenway Gap generates needed construction
employment, healthful public access to nature, and a dramatic expansion of
our region's open space infrastructure.

Completing this 1.6-mile gap in Burnham provides the keystone for connecting
trails as diverse as the 500-mile Grand Illinois Trail, Indiana's Marquette
Trail and Pennsy Trail, and the American Discovery Trail stretching from the
Atlantic to the Pacific. It would be the premier Green Legacy Project for
the Southland, to commemorate the centennial of the 1909 Burnham Plan that
first called for regional cooperation to preserve natural open spaces.

The gap between Burnham Avenue and State Street in Burnham now separates the
Southland's trail system from Chicago's bikeway system and the Lakefront
Trail, severely limiting future accessibility of the Calumet-Sag Trail.

Closing the Burnham Greenway Gap requires the construction of two bridges
and will cost $4 million dollars to cross the Grand Calumet River and
multiple rail lines. With funding, a construction bid could be let in late
2009, providing an estimated six months of construction work for on average
20 workers a day.

This cost is beyond the means of Burnham, but its benefits reach from
Northwest Indiana, through the Southland and into Chicago.

A completed Burnham Greenway would attract positive regional attention,
improve community health, boost economic activity, and expand equity in
recreation and transportation. In the long term, closing the Burnham
Greenway Gap allows communities to build brighter, more sustainable futures.

We have joined together to respectfully urge our state and federal officials
to close the Burnham Greenway Gap.

Ed Paesel, Executive Director, South Suburban Mayors and Managers
Association

Jerry Adelmann, Executive Director, Openlands

John Swanson, Executive Director, Northwest Indiana Regional Planning
Commission

Paul O'Connor, Communications Director, Chicago Metropolis 2020

Robert Polk, Mayor, Village of Burnham

Peggy Salazar, President, Southeast Environmental Task Force

Sandra L. Wartman, Executive Director, Calumet-Memorial Park District

George Bellovics, Grand Illinois Trail Coordinator, IDNR, Grand Illinois
Trail Council

John W. Wilson, Director, Lan-Oak Park District

Dan Persky, Advocacy Director, Active Transportation Alliance

Aeria Charles, Chief of Staff, Cook County Commissioner Deborah Sims

Ed Barsotti, Exeucitve Director, League of Illinois Bicyclists

David H. Kircher, Chief Landscape Architect, Forest Preserve District of
Cook County

Douglas Chien, Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club

Jim Bloyd, MPH, Assistant Health Officer, Cook County Department of Public
Health

Bev Moore, President, Illinois Trails Conservancy

Carl Toren, MD MPH, Medical Director, Chicago Family Health Center

Ralph Schultz, Director of Planning & Operations, Forest Preserve District
of Will County, Old Plank Road Trail Commission

Jim Garrett, CDME, President/CEO, Chicago Southland Convention & Visitors
Bureau
Copyright © 2009 nwi.com
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