My Internship with The Trust for Public Land

Hi Everyone, Liane here.

I realized that all of my posts have neglected a discussion about my internship this semester! This post will change all of that. Over the past few weeks I have been interning at the Chicago offices of The Trust for Public Land to help out with their current project converting an old elevated railway into a new greenway and park system. The project is known as The 606, which encompasses The Bloomingdale Trail, which stretches for 2.7 miles across four neighborhoods of Chicago, as well as the parks connecting to the trail.

Me at the Bloomindale Trail at Milwaukee Avenue.  

Here is a map of the soon to be Bloomingdale Trail:

Map of the Bloomingdale Trail courtesy of The 606 website.
 

The site for the trail is an abandoned elevated railway that used to ship freight for various industries in Chicago; such as Ludwig Drums and Link-In Logs. Many Chicagoans have been using this trail for running and walking on since the trains stopped running however it was not well kept. Here is a look at the trail before construction.

A section of the Bloomingdale Trial prior to construction.

The trails construction has been underway for a while, and will be underway for the rest of the year. It is quite the process, as I have been learning. There are so many decisions and partnerships that need to happen in order to make a project like this successful. One of the recent major construction events to take place was the removal of the bridge at Western Avenue.



The demolition of Western Avenue Bridge.

 

To fill in the missing bridge over Western Avenue, another bridge from the end of the trail, at Ashland Avenue, will be taken down and transported to Western Avenue. This phase of the project will be a huge engineering feat, and a historical moment for the city of Chicago!


To learn more about The 606 please visit their website at http://the606.org/

Stay tuned for more updates on the progress of The 606 and Bloomingdale Trail while I am still interning with The Trust for Public Land.