Laying the Path for Bikes in Lake County

Libertyville cyclists soon will be able to cross the entire village on a continuous path. Lake County has approved the construction of three new segments of bike path that will complete the Prairie Crossing Bike Path this fall. 

Construction on the $2.3 million Prairie Crossing Bike Path began in 2004. Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement grants will reduce Lake County’s bill for the bike path’s final three segments from $800,000 to just $160,000. 

“This path is part of an ongoing effort of more than 20 years,” said Al Giertych, assistant county engineer at the Lake County Division of Transportation. “We recognize there’s a need, for both travel and recreational purposes, and we include these routes in our long-range planning.”

Lake County has some 54 miles of bike path. The three segments to be completed will link Hawley Street to IL Route 137. The path’s finished length will be 3.5 miles. Construction is set to begin this spring.

Continuous bike paths usually become long-term projects: the Division of Transportation must coordinate with the Lake County Forest Preserves and other municipalities, plan a network of paths that interconnect and bid out the construction to private companies.

“Often the biggest challenge is to fit the path into existing right of ways,” Giertych said.

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