The Fox Valley Park District’s Red Oak Nature Center is set to get a new bike and pedestrian bridge over the Fox River.
The steel bridge is expected to connect the two branches of the regional Fox River Trail, which runs along the river on both sides. The Red Oak Nature Center will hold the east side of the bridge, which will be located near the Wilds at Red Oak, and the west side will be within the Les Arends Forest Preserve.
The Fox Valley Park District Board of Commissioners, at a meeting Monday night, approved a contract with Wight and Company for final engineering of the project. If this phase of the project goes well, construction could begin in late fall and would likely be competed sometime next year, Fox Valley Park District Director of Planning Jeff Palmquist told The Beacon-News on Tuesday.
The planned bridge is well-placed, he said, since it is about the same distance from the bridge crossing the Fox River in North Aurora as it is from the one in Batavia. He called the bridge an “important link” between the east and west branches of the Fox River Trail.
But the bridge isn’t just being designed for the utility of connecting one side of the river to the other. It will likely also become one of the park’s attractions, with bump-out observation areas to view the Fox River, which is beautiful in this area, according to Palmquist.
The Kane County Forest Preserve District, which owns the Les Arends Forest Preserve, has been cooperating with the Fox Valley Park District for the project. Both the Forest Preserve District board and staff have been great to work with, Palmquist said.
A significant portion of the funding for this project is coming from a $4 million federal grant that was secured by the office of U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, in 2023.
While the final cost won’t be known until engineering is complete and construction bids come in, the project is expected to have a minimal impact on local taxpayers, Palmquist said. The district is also looking at more local grants to help cover the cost, he said.
The proposed bike and pedestrian bridge is the last part of a four-phase plan that the Fox Valley Park District had for the area along the river in the Batavia and North Aurora area, which was announced in 2022.
One of the phases was the $850,000 purchase of five acres at Butterfield Road and Route 25, just north of North Aurora Village Hall. Another was a $500,000 rehab of the Red Oak Nature Center to upgrade and modernize the facility. And the third was a $2.04 million, three-season shelter that was built in Lippold Park.
The bridge is also part of a larger plan by the Fox Valley Park District to improve and expand its trail network and connectivity, according to Palmquist. He said the district has a long history of trail development, and that continues into the current day.
“A lot of those initial visions have been realized,” he said. “Now we’re kind of onto the next level of making these connections.”
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
