A Work in Progress: Up on The Bloomingdale Trail

Hi Everyone, Liane here.

On Wednesday April 9th, an internship day, I got to go up onto The Bloomingdale Trail with my supervisor! She was giving a tour to a group of people from an innovative design company called IDEO. The group was there to help brainstorm creative signage that could be used for way-finding, interpretative, and donor signs throughout The 606. I was invited to tag along since I had only ever seen what was going on through blueprints of the design plan for The 606.

The massive blueprints for The Bloomingdale Trail design plans.

Before going up onto the Trail we all met in the field office for the project to see a large map of the project and get our hardhats.

The 606 map.
 

I was so excited to wear a the gear required to be on a construction site! It made me feel so official...

Me, proudly sporting my hardhat and construction vest.

Here are some images from the tour of The Bloomingdale Trail's construction:

Looking East from on top of The Bloomingdale Trail.

Workers removing the remaining Rail Road Tracks. (Looking West)

Since the railroad trips stopped on the early 2000's, plants slowly reclaimed the industrial site. There are numerous trees all along The Bloomingdale Trial which have been incorporated into the project's landscape plan.

Existing trees on top of The Bloomingdale Trail.
 

The tour brought us over Humboldt Avenue, which marks the near center of the 2.7 mile long Bloomingdale Trail. The following photographs will provide you with an idea of the "before and after" at The Bloomingdale Trail at Humboldt Avenue.

Before:

The Bloomingdale Trail at Humboldt Avenue (looking West).
 

 After:

Artist rendition of what The Bloomingdale Trail will look like at Humboldt Avenue.
 

It was such a lovely Spring day to visit The Bloomingdale Trail. I cannot wait to come back later in life to see how far it has come since I saw it under construction! After the tour finished, I spotted the first flower of Spring sprouting from the earth. I thought it was such a perfect symbol for what is to come from The 606; right now it is just dirt, but it will blossom into one of Chicago's most beloved places in the years to come.

The first flower of Spring!