Bloomingdale Line
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The Bloomingdale Line is a 2.7 mile elevated railroad running east-west on the northwest side of Chicago that the city of Chicago has proposed to convert into a greenway. The right-of-way passes through the community areas Logan Square, Humboldt Park and West Town.
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[edit] History
The Bloomingdale Line was originally constructed in 1873 by the Chicago and Pacific Railroad Company as part of the 36-mile Elgin subdivision from Halsted Street in Chicago to the suburb of Elgin, Illinois. It was soon absorbed by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railway (also known as the Milwaukee Road), first via a 999-year lease in 1880 and later with a fee simple deed conveyance to the same in 1900. As a result of mergers and acquisitions, it became part of the Soo Line and later the Canadian Pacific Railway, which currently owns the right-of-way.
The railroad was elevated approximately twenty feet in the 1910s as result of a city ordinance aimed at reducing pedestrian fatalities at grade crossings. Steel-reinforced concrete embankment walls line the right-of-way and there are 38 viaducts built into the railroad to accommodate cross traffic from the street grid. Many of the viaducts are currently in need of repair.
The line was use for both passenger and freight trains and served several local industrial businesses, including a Schwinn Bicycle Company warehouse. The Bloomingdale Line was primarily used to reach the Lakewood Branch and industrial district on Goose Island.
[edit] Proposed conversion to a greenway
The city of Chicago first investigated converting the Bloomingdale Line into a greenway in a 1997 bicycle facilities plan, but it remained a freight line with occasional service for several more years. The city reintroduced the greenway concept as part of the Logan Square Open Space Plan in 2002-2004. This plan proposes a linear park or greenway with public access ramps every six to nine blocks. At the east end, a trailhead would be created at the Chicago River and on the west end another trailhead would be integrated into the Logan Square YMCA campus.
Similar elevated greenway projects include:
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- August Derleth, The Milwaukee Road, 2002
- Logan Square Open Space Plan, City of Chicago, 2004
