ABOUT
The DuPage County Division of Transportation (DuDOT) is currently developing routes to extend the East Branch DuPage River Trail (EBDRT) from St. Charles Road to Butterfield Road (IL 56). In its entirety, the EBDRT is a planned 28-mile regional trail in central DuPage County, intended as a multi-use path in the vicinity of the East Branch DuPage River (EBDR). Please view the map to the left and scroll or zoom into any areas of interest.
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The north-south trail was first conceptualized in the 1990s as an off-street, non-motorized pathway connecting isolated pockets of forest preserves with parks, waterways, and several municipalities.
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The EBDRT is recognized as a planned regional trail by multiple regional and local plans, including the following:
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PURPOSE
The EBDRT is part of a long-range plan which envisions a network of continuous greenway and trail corridors, linked across jurisdictions, providing scenic beauty, natural habitat, and recreational and transportation opportunities.
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According to the Active Transportation Alliance, trails promote walking, biking, and other non-motorized activities to create healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities. Trails encourage more people to walk and bike for transportation by providing residents an inexpensive and low-stress transportation corridor.
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Beyond their role as transportation corridors, trails also provide other benefits for communities like enhancing the environment, contributing to improved public health, and driving local economic development.
Since trails provide low-stress environments that encourage people to walk and bike as everyday transportation, a well-connected and well-designed trail network can be used by all residents regardless of age, socioeconomic status, or one’s physical abilities.
GOALS
Maximize recreational benefits
Support multi-modal travel
Improve pedestrian and bicyclist Safety
Use natural setting near river, if possible
Achieve low-impact and cost-effective solution
Inter-community non-motorized connectivity
PROJECT PROCESS
The EBDRT projects are on separate tracts and will move forward to the next Phase at different times.
ALIGNMENT STUDY SUMMARY
The EBDRT project area covers a very large area with a variety of landscapes, environments, and jurisdictions. As a result, DuDOT completed an alignment study to identify potential constraints and stakeholders. Based on study recommendations, DuDot is conducting two distinct Phase I preliminary engineering and environmental studies for the following projects: from St. Charles Road to the Illinois Prairie Path (IPP) and from the IPP to IL 56.​
A project of the DuPage Division of
Transportation (DuDOT)
421 N. County Farm Rd
Wheaton, IL 60187
Phone: (630) 407-6900