DANVILLE – Danville residents are rallying behind a proposed extension of the Kickapoo Rail Trail.
The trail currently runs from Urbana to St. Joseph. When complete, it will be 24.5 miles long and run from Urbana to Kickapoo State Recreation Area.
The extension would add 3.5 miles of trail, connecting Kickapoo State Recreation Area to Ellsworth Park in Danville.
Trails of the Grand Prairie, a nonprofit that’s working to expand the Kickapoo Rail Trail, and the city of Danville are currently in talks to purchase 60 acres of former rail corridor west of Danville from CSX Transportation.
“We are in the neighborhood of an acquisition of around $3ish million,” Trails of the Grand Prairie Board member Patrick Halloran said.
The nonprofit is currently encouraging Danville residents to write letters of support for an Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program (ITEP) grant they will be applying for to purchase the land and conduct initial engineering work.
“There is a public engagement score that comes along with the grant application,” Halloran said, “and with that, we want to show them that the community is totally invested in this trail coming to Danville.”
The group is seeking $3.75 million in grant funding through the program, according to a press release. The program typically requires matching funding from the local community, but Halloran hopes their application will be strong enough to get full funding, he said.
“Typically, it’s an 80-20 match, but with our public score and with the socioeconomic status of our community, we’re hoping it can be a 90-10 or even a full grant.”
If the group wins the grant, it’ll only be the beginning of the project, according to Danville Deputy Director of Public Works and Engineering Tim Cowan.
“The idea is that if we can get acquisition, phase one, maybe phase two engineering done in the next two years, the ITEP cycle is reopened every two years,” he said, “and they are big proponents of funding phased improvements.”
Danville resident Kent Brown is excited that the expansion would connect more people to the community.
“I know a lot of people who have biked to St. Joseph and stopped there and went to a restaurant or went to the bar or whatever they were doing and met people in that area,” he said.
The expansion will not only connect Danville with communities east of the city, it will also help connect residents to natural resources, like the Middle Fork Vermilion River and Kickapoo State Recreation Area, Halloran said.
“I didn’t want to rest until this trail connected us to this community, that we have 30,000 or so folks here that are just waiting and deserve something special,” he added.
Board Chair Jeff Yockey said the Kickapoo Rail Trail won’t end when it gets to Danville, Trails of the Grand Prairie. He has dreams of one day connecting the trail to others in communities like Decatur and Bloomington.
“You can go from Pittsburgh to Washington D.C. on trails,” he added. “You can go from St. Louis to Kansas City on trails and so we’re working on this part of Illinois to make that a reality for us too.”